Balance of the Universe
by splendoras
Summary: Mara Tremblay is a childhood friend of Keith who ends up with him in the desert to research the Blue Lion carvings. What Mara did not expect was to end up in space and becoming a paladin of Voltron! The White Lion is the center of Voltron and represents balance, unity, and focus. Can Mara live up to its expectations? Will she have what it takes to become a Defender of the universe?
1. Prologue

Prologue

" _Just one month ago, we broke news that the Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon of Kerberos failed, and all crew members are believed to be dead. The Galaxy Garrison has recently said that the crash was presumably caused by pilot error…"_

Keith clenched his fists and then quickly turned off the radio. Silence fell across the shack, as Keith raised a hand to cover his face.

He didn't want to hear any more about Kerberos, or the fact that they were blaming the entire mission's failure on the pilot. Keith knew that Shiro was one of the best pilots in the entire Galaxy Garrison, which had been why he was selected for the Kerberos mission in the first place. Shiro was patient, knowledgeable, encouraging, and determined. He was one of the greatest people that Keith had ever met… That Keith had ever been friends with.

And now the fact that Shiro was gone… It had landed Keith emotionally in a very dark place. When he was still attending the Galaxy Garrison, Keith was one of the more… stubborn and reckless cadets. But he was a talented pilot, and when things did go south, Keith had Shiro there to help him out.

But when he had first heard the news… Keith didn't take it too well. In fact, he ended up punching Commander Iverson in the face. The end result was Keith getting expelled from the Galaxy Garrison, and Iverson ended up with a permanent injury to his left eye. Keith was then left to grieve on his own, as he then found himself wandering back to the desert, near where he grew up.

Keith had come across an abandoned shack in the desert, and decided to take up residence in it. He was able to smuggle and secure some necessities, and had then pretty much cut himself off from the rest of society. One way that Keith managed to distract himself was to explore around the various caves and canyons that surrounded the desert. He would often go out for hours, riding from place to place on his red hover bike.

He turned to look at the clock hanging on the wall, where it read that it was already past eleven o'clock. Keith did his best to hold back a yawn, as he looked down at his map of the area. There was still a large section he had not explored yet, so he decided that tomorrow he would try and explore part of the large section.

.⋆✦⋆.

The next day, Keith was riding through the desert sands on his red hover bike, with his hair blowing in the wind. It reminded him a lot of the sensation that came with flying, and he cherished every second of it. A frown came across Keith's face. Would he ever fly again? It was once his dream to become a pilot and explore space, just like Shiro.

Keith was shaken out of his thoughts when he felt a strange tug in his chest. He quickly made a right turn and entered an area that was slightly off the map. He was very confused, but it felt like something was calling out to him to ride this way. The desert sands were replaced with a series of boulders as Keith entered a more rocky area that was overlooked by a canyon.

Keith eventually stopped when he found himself in front of a cave, and the tugging in his chest ceased. As he slid off the seat of the hover bike and powered it down, Keith noticed that one of the boulders outside of the cave entrance had a strange symbol marked on it. He moved closer so he could get a better look at it, the symbol appeared to look like the letter 'V', but on the sides it had angled lines. Keith tilted his head to the side, trying to see if the symbol was maybe not a 'V', but after a few seconds, he gave up. Looking at the entrance of the cave, Keith could feel the tugging feeling in his chest again, like it was pulling him closer and closer to the entrance.

Keith then decided to go through the entrance of the cave, where he was instantly greeted with darkness. He quickly got out his flashlight and turned it on. But when he pointed the light against the wall, Keith's eyes widened as he was greeted with something he did not expect. There were markings all over the place, some seemed to resemble written text, whereas others were just pictures.

In that moment Keith cursed himself for not bringing his camera with him that day, for he would have jumped on taking photos of the walls of the cave. He ended up walking down the path deeper into the cave, until he came across a dead end. It looked like there had been a cave in at some point in time, causing parts of the cave to fall apart and create a blockage. Which meant that Keith would be unable to go any further into the cave. He shrugged his shoulders and decided that he had probably spent enough time in the cave for today, and began to walk back towards the entrance.

As he walked, his eyes kept wandering back and forth both sides of the cave. Keith had never seen anything like this before in his life. Sure, they had learned about ancient cave paintings in school when he was younger, but to actually see cave markings in front of his own two eyes? It had him at a loss for words.

When Keith exited the cave, it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the sunlight, but afterwards he turned off his flashlight. Keith then took down the coordinates for the cave, so he could update his map later. He then hopped on his red hover bike, and began to ride back towards the shack. While he was riding along, the tugging was still there in his chest, but it was not as strong as it was earlier. Keith wondered to himself if it was something to do with the distance between himself and the cave that triggered the tugging feeling in his chest. He told himself that next time when he would come back to the cave, he would observe to see if the tugging feeling was still present.

.⋆✦⋆.

Keith found himself in a library the next day, where he was currently conducting research. His first thought was to look at the history of the area, particularly with what Native American tribes lived here in the past. Keith learned that tribes such as the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache had lived in the area, but in all of their myths and legends, there was no mention of a Blue Lion.

Keith was very puzzled at this information, and decided to expand his search. Once again, there was no mention anywhere of a cave containing markings of a Blue Lion. It was then that Keith realized that he had come across something very special. But he was still stuck, he couldn't figure out exactly what the markings were talking about.

But who could he go to with this information? And who would be willing to help him uncover the secrets of the cave? Keith exited the library with his head down and his hands in his pockets. He was feeling really defeated with the rate of his progress at the moment. He let out a small sigh as he continued to walk down the sidewalk. Keith ended up passing by a small playground on the way to where his red hover bike was parked. Keith looked over the playground and felt himself being transported back to a happier time, when he had been a lot longer and his father was still alive. He remembered going to the playground and imagining that the playground was like a space station, and that he was an astronaut flying around in space.

Keith faintly smiled as he reviewed the memory in his mind. His father would also join varying from pretending to be a fellow astronaut or when Keith would request it, pretending to be an alien! Keith then remembered that he had another friend who played with him when his dad could not. Her name was Mara, she was two years older than him, had a slight French accent, had had long blonde hair, and her favorite color was purple. Keith later learned that Mara and her parents had recently moved to the area and that they lived very close to him, which eventually led to them becoming best friends. Mara's parents were out of town a lot for their jobs, so sometimes Mara would end up staying with Keith and his dad. Other times however, Mara got to travel with them, and would always bring back a souvenir for Keith. She also loved history, and would often tell Keith facts about history at random times when they hung out together.

But one day, shortly after his tenth birthday, Mara and her family moved back to France. Both of them did not want to be apart, so they promised that they would keep in contact, and continue being friends. And for the first few months, they did stay in contact with each other… Until Keith's father died. Keith had become an orphan, and really struggled to come to terms with everything, and he didn't want to talk to anyone for a couple of years. Things only changed when he enrolled in the Galaxy Garrison at age twelve and found a mentor and friend in Shiro. It was then when Keith was opening up again, that he finally wrote back to Mara. On a few special occasions, Shiro even managed to set up a video call between Keith and Mara, which really helped to raise their spirits. But as the years went on and the training at the Garrison became more competitive and intense, Keith didn't have the time to write to Mara, and they fell out of touch. The last time he had wrote to her, which was probably two years ago, she was at University majoring in anthropology.

Keith as the memory faded away, stopped in his tracks when an idea formed inside of his head. He couldn't help but smile, as he now knew who he would be able to contact and ask for help with the markings in the cave. Keith turned around and walked back to the library, and hopped on one of the computers they had available. He logged into his old email account and began to compose a message. It had been so long since he had spoken with Mara, but if there was anyone who would be able to help him out, it would be her.

When he was finally finished, Keith looked over the message a few times to make sure that everything was how he wanted. With some slight hesitation, he finally hit the 'send' button and laid his head back on the chair. Keith hoped that she would really read the message and write him back, especially since it was something that would be right up her alley of interest. But he could also understand if she did not respond, seeing as how he was contacting her out of the blue in over two years. Keith stared at the computer screen for over an hour before he decided to go home for the day. He would come back in a few days to see if she responded. As he rode his red hover bike home, he couldn't help but still feel anxious about the entire situation he was in. But he was also excited at learning more about the markings in the cave, and excited at the prospect of hearing from Mara again. Maybe they would even be able to re-strengthen their friendship! A small smile appeared on Keith's face as he rode off into the sunset back to his little shack in the middle of the desert.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Welcome to the Balance of the Universe! Specifically, the revamped and rewritten edition. This prologue chapter takes place sort-of during the events of the first episode, notably when we find out that the Kerberos mission has failed. This prologue is also one of the new additions to this story compared to the original version.**

 **You see, I originally posted this story in February 2018, and managed to post a total of 13 chapters released before I took it off the site.**

 **The reason? As more seasons of the show were released, thus introducing new story elements, I had to think of ways to incorporate my OCs into the show canon as close as I possibly could. That being said, as you read further into the story, you will see some differences compared to the show. You've officially been warned.**

 **Also, I am actually giving myself an update schedule/deadline: There will be two chapters each week, both being released on Wednesdays. This will keep me better motivated to continue writing the story, as well as to take time to receive any feedback from you, the readers.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a hot, summer night as Keith was using his binoculars to look over the horizon of the desert. He could start to feel a trickle of sweat going down his neck, which made him shift the collar of his jacket ever so slightly.

On his right, Mara was scanning the stars with a telescope, looking for anything that moved across the vast sky. Keith had noticed that she had gotten into the habit of letting out a tiny 'huff' whenever a satellite passed over them, seeing them as a nuisance. There were a few close calls when Mara would get excited over seeing a shooting star, but they turned out to be false alarms.

After months of analyzing and reviewing the markings on the walls of the Blue Lion cave, Keith and Mara had begun to place the pieces together. It seemed that each of the ancient markings told a slightly different story about a Blue Lion. The way that the Blue Lion was depicted in the stories made it seem like it was a magical Lion that was a guardian of sorts. Each of the stories had tiny clues within them that when put together, seemed to be a prediction for an arrival.

At first, Keith and Mara thought that the arrival had already occurred, but the further they analyzed the markings, they realized that some of the events depicted had only happened in the past few years. It was through this that they were able to figure out that the 'arrival' was going to be happening very soon. And so, they began to make preparations for the big event, thinking of possible scenarios and what they would need. Mara was excited from day one, eager to learn more about the origins of the cave markings and answers to what the Blue Lion really represented.

When Mara had arrived to the Blue Lion Cave for the first time with Keith, she too had felt the tugging feeling in her chest, like she was being guided to go inside the cave herself. And once she saw the markings for her own eyes, she was completely drawn into figuring out everything she could about them. They made almost daily visits to the cave, spending hours taking notes and taking photos, before they would return back to the shack and go over what they had learned. Keith eventually bought a corkboard for them to use for organizing all of their information.

On the days when they did not visit the cave or do massive amounts of research, Keith and Mara took the opportunity to spend time with each other, having fun like how they used to when they were children. Keith showed Mara how to ride a hover bike, and Mara taught him how to cook some French cuisine. Other times Keith would tell Mara about the aspects of flying a spaceship and how to navigate the solar system, and Mara would tell Keith about how ancient societies and civilizations would view astronomical events.

It felt just like back when they were children, Keith being excited about space and Mara rambling on about history. And eventually their friendship recovered and grew stronger. Keith told Mara about how he felt so lost after his father passed, but then how he had Shiro there to look out for him, like an older brother. Mara expressed her regret at not being physically there for Keith after his father passed away, but Keith would tell her that it wasn't her fault.

"Maybe we got the timeline wrong…" Mara muttered out loud, as she sighed and took a step back from the telescope. Keith put down his binoculars, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We went over it multiple times, the arrival is going to happen tonight. We just need to be patient".

Mara turned her head towards Keith, with a small smile forming on her lips. "Now you're starting to sound like me". Keith rolled his eyes at her response and picked up his binoculars again, and was already re-focused on his task. Mara knew that Keith had made a pretty good point, and this became only amplified when she felt the familiar tugging sensation in her chest. Mara re-adjusted the telescope to another part of the sky, and peered inside the lens to continue looking around.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mara saw something bright and flashing soaring through the sky. She jumped and quickly adjusted the telescope, following the object's every move. All of a sudden there was like a sonic boom as the object blasted through the atmosphere and flew over their heads. Keith was following the object with the binoculars and put them down once the object cleared over a canyon, as he ran towards the shack to retrieve some supplies.

With the Galaxy Garrison being located not too far away from them, Keith knew that they would be the first responders on the scene when the object would crash into the Earth. And if he wanted to get up close, he was going to need a distraction of some kind. Grabbing one of the blue duffel bags, Keith made his way back outside, where he saw that Mara was already waiting for him on her smaller, white hover bike. Keith gave her a nod as he ran to his red hover bike and turned on the ignition, while sliding the duffle bag over his shoulders.

They began to ride through the desert, trying to tail the mysterious object as it streaked across the sky. Not too long into their journey, the object was out of their field of vision. There was suddenly another loud boom as the object crashed into the desert. Keith instantly picked up speed on his hover bike, and Mara was soon to follow. They were now in a race against time.

.⋆✦⋆.

Fifteen minutes later, Keith and Mara arrived just outside of the crash site, and were currently positioned behind a tall rock formation. Mara was keeping watch with the binoculars and giving Keith updates as more of the Galaxy Garrison forces arrived, while Keith prepared the distraction. He decided to go with setting off a series of explosions to get the attention of the Galaxy Garrison and hopefully force them to investigate, therefore leading most of their forces away from where they had set up a base camp around the crashed object.

Keith looked over his handiwork one more time before he whistled Mara to come by him. She took a quick glance over the set up and gave him a shaky thumbs up, before he nodded and handed her the trigger mechanism. Mara's hand was slightly shaking now, as her brain was processing what was happening all around her. Keith noticed this and placed both of his hands on her shoulders, closed his eyes, and began to breathe deeply. Mara soon mimicked his actions, and she calmed down a little bit. "Let's go over the plan on more time, alright?"

Mara opened her eyes and gave Keith a small nod. "You are going to travel to the base camp and stake it out for a bit. Once you radio me the signal, I will activate the explosives and then get the hell out of here and hope that nobody sees me. The explosion will distract the Garrison so you can move in and investigate the crashed object. I'll take the long way back to the shack just to be safe, and sometime during the trip back I will radio you to make sure everything went according to plan".

She took a deep breath after she finished, and looked to Keith for a sign of approval. "Did I miss anything?"

"No, I think you covered everything… You can do this, Mara."

"But what if I blow myself up by accident?"

Keith placed his hand on Mara's shoulder, to give her some confidence and re-assurance. "You won't blow yourself up. I explained and showed you how to handle the explosives before. I know you can do this."

Keith then stepped away from Mara and turned on the ignition for his hover bike. With a quick salute, he sped off towards the crash site, leaving Mara alone. Mara gave him a weak wave goodbye, as she took the binoculars back into her hands and scanned the horizon. Now all she had to do was wait.

.⋆✦⋆.

As Mara waited, she leaned against the side of her hover bike and looked upwards at the night sky. Thousands of stars were scattered around and sparkling, creating a beautiful sight to behold. Mara softly smiled as she thought to herself. She could see the appeal of going into space, it was full of such beauty and mystery.

But Mara was snapped out of her thoughts as her communicator roared to life with static as Keith tried to talk with her. Mara wondered if the static was being generated by some kind of interference by the tech that the Galaxy Garrison was using at the crash site. "Ok Mara, hit the button now!"

There was a brilliant flash of light and a loud boom, followed by bits of rock and sand flying into the air. Mara shielded her eyes for a few seconds, before she opened them and saw flames everywhere. Within a few more seconds, she could hear the distant rumbling of the Galaxy Garrison vehicles making their way towards her location.

Mara turned the key in the ignition and hit the gas pedal, leaving behind a cloud of sand to mix in with the flames. Mara saw that the Garrison vehicles were only half way to the explosion site, when she was already a pretty good distance away. As she continued to zoom across the desert, Mara was constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn't being followed. Luckily, she hadn't spotted anyone yet, but just to be on the safe side she decided to take a longer way back to the shack.

After ten more minutes of riding, Mara decided to try and radio Keith to see if he was successful or not. She rode up to a nearby rock formation and maneuvered her hover bike behind it, just to keep herself from being seen by anyone. Mara then held the communicator in her hands and with some hesitation, she pressed the call button. "Keith, are you there?"

There was static for a moment, before Mara heard a bunch of yelling on the other end of the communicator. The static kept on going in and out, making it even harder for Mara to comprehend what was happening. "KEITH!"

She heard more static, followed by the sound of tires screeching and a large crashing noise. What on earth was going on over there? It sounded like he had been spotted and was now being pursued by the Garrison. But at the same time it sounded like he had other people with him on the hover bike.

"NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME!" Keith yelled through the communicator. Mara could also hear the sounds to tires screeching and horns blaring in the background, fully confirming that Keith was being pursued.

Mara also could have sworn she heard somebody screaming in the background, which made her even more anxious as her heart beat sped up.

"WE'LL MEET UP AT THE SHACK!" Keith yelled one more time, before there was a flurry of static and the communicator was off.

Mara held the communicator to her chest and took a deep breath. Keith was going to be fine, he was just a little bit pre-occupied right now. But he would make it back to the shack safe and sound. And then he would be able to tell her what the hell happened out there.

Mara hopped back onto the seat of her hover bike and turned it on, and continued to ride through the night. Despite the current time of night, she did not feel tired at all, and was feeling more awake than before. Mara attributed this to all of the adrenaline and anxiety she was experiencing at the time.

She had been tempted a few times to try and radio Keith through the communicator to make sure he was doing better now, but she decided against it.

Sure, Keith could be reckless and stubborn at times, but he was also very strategic and determined. Mara still couldn't believe he had been expelled from the Galaxy Garrison, even if it was because he physically hurt a commanding officer. Keith was an excellent pilot, and had been regarded as the best pilot in his class. She couldn't blame him for losing control of his emotions and lashing out when he found out about the status of the Kerberos mission.

The sky was starting to become lighter and lighter as Mara continued to ride. As looked over the horizon, she saw the outline of the shack

When she had gotten closer, she was able to make out two figures standing off to the side of the shack, with one of them wearing a familiar red jacket…

Mara let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding, as she realized Keith made it back safe. But then she began to wonder who the figure standing next to Keith was? Mara remembered that it sounded like somebody was on the hover bike with Keith when he was trying to escape the Garrison… She was now fifty feet away from Keith, as she began to slow down her hover bike and prepare to power it down. Mara was now able to see more details about the figure who was standing next to Keith. He was taller than Keith, and had a very muscular outline. There was a glimmer on his right ride, and Mara's eyes widened as she saw that he had a prosthetic arm! But it looked nothing like the prosthetic arms they currently were making, this looked even more advanced.

Mara finally hopped off the hover bike and walked up to Keith, and stood in front of him for a few seconds. She then couldn't hold herself back anymore and have him a big hug. Keith seemed surprised by her sudden gesture and slowly hugged her back. "I'm so glad you made it back safe." Mara whispered into Keith's ear, before she released him from the hug. Keith gave her a small nod, and gestured his arm towards the man standing next to him.

"Mara, this is Shiro. He is the mysterious arrival we have been waiting for."

Mara turned her attention towards Shiro and looked him over. Shiro had a pretty solid jawline and a jagged scar that ran across his nose. Mara tilted her head to the side to try and see it from a different angle. Did he receive that scar through some kind of torture or combat? Her eyes then drifted upward, as she saw that Shiro had a tuft of hair on his head that was pure white, with the rest of his hair being a mix of black and gray in the style of an undercut.

Now that Mara was up close with him, she was able to see just how tall and well-built Shiro really was. Mara couldn't help but feel an immediate physical attraction to Shiro as she looked at him, despite the fact that she had just met him. She soon realized that she had been looking at him for a little too long, as her face began to heat up a little bit.

Keith saw Mara's growing blush on her face and quickly cleared his throat to continue introductions. He was now gesturing his arm towards Mara.

"Shiro, this is Mara. She is the one who has been helping me out with everything out here."

Mara finally made eye contact with Shiro as he seemed to now be giving her a look over. After a few seconds, he extended his prosthetic arm out to her. "It's great to meet you. And thank you for all of your help."

Mara hesitated for a moment before she gripped his hand and gave it a shake. "G-Great to meet you too."

Shiro gave her a short nod, and slowly let go of her hand. Mara couldn't help but think back to how familiar Keith seemed to be with Shiro. Mara tilted her head to the side, thinking hard. "I know I've heard the name Shiro before…." She muttered out loud to herself. Mara stood still for a moment, then snapped her fingers as her eyes lit up in realization. "Keith, is this the friend you've told me so much about? The pilot from the Kerberos mission?"

Shiro looked to Keith before he looked back to Mara, giving her a small smile and a nod. "The very same." An eager smile appeared on Mara's face. "Oh wow! It's great to meet you, Shiro. Keith has told me a lot about you over the past few months."

Shiro raised an eyebrow at hearing this, as he turned to smile at Keith. "Did he now?" Keith looked away from Shiro's gaze, as if he looked embarrassed by Mara's words.

Mara made a tiny giggle and gave Shiro a nod. "Also, I may have heard about you from my little brother Antoine…You were one of his instructors at the Galaxy Garrison…."

"Really? What's your last name?"

"Tremblay."

Shiro tilted his head to this side, as he tried to think back to when he taught at the Garrison. Antoine Tremblay…. Just a year younger than Keith if he remembered correctly, with the same blonde hair and grey eyes like Mara. Antoine had average piloting skills but had more of a scientific mind, kind of like Matt. Once he finished his thoughts, Shiro gave a firm nod towards Mara. "I see the resemblance now! You're Antoine's older sister!"

Mara had a big smile on her face when Shiro remembered Antoine. She loved her little brother dearly, and was so happy that he had stood out enough to have somebody like Shiro remember him. If Antoine was here right now, he would be over the moon with joy. Originally Mara had hoped that Antoine and Keith would be in the same class, but it was just not meant to be.

There was a few moments of silence before Shiro spoke up again, with the same thoughtful expression on his face. "Wait a second… Keith, is this the childhood friend of yours? The girl from France?"

Now it was Mara's turn to look to Keith with a big smile on her face. Keith rubbed the back of his head as he gave a nod to Shiro. "Yeah, she's the one. She's been off studying for her degree in Europe these past few years…."

Mara looked down to the ground and remained silent. She wasn't happy that she and Keith had lost touch during that time but it was true, she was busy studying to get her degree. She was going on trips to archeological digs and working on her thesis paper. And during that time, Keith was just starting in the Galaxy Garrison, completely focused on becoming a great pilot. They both knew that they lost touch, but it was because they were both busy with their future careers.

Keith continued to speak. "But after you disappeared and I ended up out here… I realized that I needed her help and expertise." There was silence between the three of them after that. Shiro was planning on asking what kind of help and expertise Mara brought to the table, but a different thought went through his mind at that moment.

"How did you know to come save me when I crashed?"

Mara looked up from the ground and exchanged a glance with Keith. He then placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "You should come see this."

Keith began to lead Shiro back to the shack, as Mara walked back to her transport and started up the engine once more. Keith paused and turned to face her with a questioning look on his face. "I'll be there in a few minutes." Mara yelled over the engine, as she pointed to where Keith's transport was parked. Keith nodded in understanding, and he and Shiro continued walking towards the shack.

.⋆✦⋆.

Keith had just finished explaining the current situation to everyone in the roomwhen there was a sudden knock at the door. Almost instantly everyone in the room except Keith and Shiro tensed up. A million different thoughts were racing through their heads. Had they been found by the Garrison already? Were they going to be captured and detained for what they had done last night? A voice quickly called out. "Keith open up!"

Keith made his way towards the door. "Just a second!" As he placed his hand on the doorknob, he looked towards the group and nodded. "Its fine, guys." The group relaxed somewhat, but were curious as to who was on the other side of the door, and how Keith knew that whoever it was could be trusted.

Then the door opened.

Mara swiftly entered the room, muttering a quick "thank you" to Keith before she wandered off to the corner of the room to set down her bag and shake the sand out of her hair and clothing. When she finished, she turned to face Keith again and her eyes widened at the scene before her. "I see you brought back more visitors?" she said, sounding somewhere between surprised and confused with her tone of voice.

Keith rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, these guys were at the crash site when I was there... And ended up escaping with me."

Mara raised an eyebrow at hearing this before she walked over to stand in front of the group. She was definitely going to make Keith tell her about how his escape went later. Mara then began to silently assess the trio before her. Two of the boys appeared to be the same age as Keith, while the other boy seemed a little younger. Mara wondered if any of them knew her brother or had classes with him back at the Garrison.

Mara quickly shook her head to get out of her thoughts, and sent the boys a smile. "I'm Mara by the way. Mara Tremblay." She then gave them a quick wave before she walked over and stood next to Keith, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"My friend here talked me into coming all the way out here a while ago to help him research the caves and the markings inside of them."

Lance let out a scoff. "You're friends with this guy?"

Mara frowned and crossed her arms across her chest. She glared at Lance, not happy with the tone of his voice when questioning her friendship with Keith. "Yeah, is that a problem for you?" Lance raised up his hands in surrender. "No, I'm just surprised this guy actually has friends. He didn't really talk to anyone back at the Garrison."

Keith cast his eyes downward again, and Mara glanced towards him and took a deep breath before uncrossing her arms. The room was once again silent but was now somewhat tense.

"Tremblay…. That name sounds really familiar…" Pidge titled his head to the side in thought. Mara's eyes lit up and she quickly turned to face Pidge. "Oh! My younger brother attends the Galaxy Garrison. His name is Antoine."

"That kid with the French accent!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Oh that kid who is always catching the attention of the ladies with his accent…" Lance mumbled out loud.

Mara covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hold back her laughter. Her little brother, being a ladies man? That just didn't sound like him at all. But it was true that he couldn't shake his accent ever since he went back to the United States.

Keith cleared his throat, trying to get everyone back on track. "Anyway... I should thank you all for getting me out." Shiro walked forward, towards Lance and extended his arm. "You're Lance, right?"

Lance looked down at Shiro's prosthetic hand and hesitated for just a moment. Lance then made a small smile and shook Shiro's hand, all the while his smile grew. Shiro then turned to face Hunk and Pidge.

Hunk had his hands on his head, like he was nervous or stressed out about the situation. Maybe he was feeling both? He didn't move or say anything. Pidge noticed this and decided to introduce themselves. "The nervous guy is Hunk, and I'm Pidge. So did anyone else from your crew make it out?"

Shiro looked away from Pidge's gaze. "I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. But after that, it's just bits and pieces."

Mara chose to speak up. "That sounds a lot like amnesia... How long were you gone again?"

Shiro turned to face Mara. "They told me I was gone for over a year."

Finally, Hunk spoke. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Like, where are they at this very moment?" This revelation made Mara's eyes widen as she took a step back from the group. "Whoa there, did you just say aliens?"

Now things were getting really crazy. Never did she think in all of her study and research that aliens would be involved. Mara honestly had been thinking more like Antoine, thinking that the cause for the arrival would be an asteroid or something.

Lance rolled his eyes and let out another scoff. "Well yeah, who else do you think captured Shiro?" Mara sent a glare towards Lance. He retaliated by sticking his tongue out at her.

Shiro continued. "I can't really put it together. I remember hearing the word Voltron. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why."

Mara shared a glance with Keith, before she turned to face the corkboard again. She then went deep into thought, tuning out the voices of those behind her. "Maybe the blue lion has something to do with this Voltron..." she shifted her weight from one foot to another. "Or maybe this blue lion is really called Voltron..."

Mara was soon brought out of her train of thought when she heard Keith interrupt Hunk. "A frown who?"

Hunk let out a small sigh. "A Fraunhofer line. It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron. And I think I can build a machine to look for it, kind of like a Voltron Geiger counter."

Lance smiled, and gave Hunk a pat on the back. "You big, gassy genius!"

Mara turned to face Hunk. "In theory, that would make our search go much faster..."

Hunk smiled, happy with their replies. "It's pretty fascinating really. The wavelength looks like this." He held up a sheet of paper from Pidge's notebook, illustrating the Fraunhofer line. Mara squinted her eyes looking at the paper. Why did it look so familiar?

Keith glanced quickly between the corkboard and the sheet of paper, before he ran over to Hunk. "Give me that! "He then snatched the sheet of paper out of Hunk's hands and brought it to the corkboard.

"It's a perfect match..."

Shiro turned to Lance, Pidge and Hunk who all nodded. They knew what they wanted to do next. Shiro looked to Keith and Mara. "Can you take us there?"

They both turned around to face him and Mara smiled. "Of course we can!"

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Hello everyone! Chapter two is now finished and posted! As you can see, Mara did end up responding to Keith's email and came out to the desert to help him. We will eventually see this scene play out in a future flashback, so stay tuned!**

 **We are also now entering the first episode of the show! Mara has met Shiro for the first time and has the reaction that I think most of us would have if we saw Shiro: Complete awe. And I'm just going to put this out there right now, but in this fic, Shiro will be depicted as being bisexual (since LM left it open for interpretation, that's just how I see him).**

 **And we got a little sneak peak of Mara's little brother, Antoine! Now if you are wondering, "If Keith grew up with Mara then didn't he also grow up with Antoine?" Well the thing is, Antoine is younger than Keith and has a totally different personality. Keith just became better friends with Mara and didn't really bond with Antoine at all.**

 **Also, I know I mentioned that Antoine is also attending the Galaxy Garrison, but he was in a different class than Keith, Lance, and Hunk. But as you read, Hunk and Lance have heard about Antoine and his french accent.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With Keith and Mara leading the way, the group soon found themselves among the giant boulders and caves were the mysterious energy source was. Hunk turned on the machine, and it began to beep loudly as the followed the signal. "I'm getting a reading!"

The beeping continued as Hunk and Pidge raced ahead of everyone else. The beeping got more and more intense as they found themselves right outside of one of the caves. Keith took out a map of the canyon and marked the spot where they were standing. "Let's head inside then."

Mara took out a flashlight from her bag and turned it on, illuminating the inside of the cave. The group then began to walk inside. Mara pointed the flashlight back and forth between the cave walls.

"What are these?"

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about earlier. They're everywhere around here." Keith said, gesturing around the cave with his arms. Lance took a few steps away from the group and moved closer to the cave wall. He then felt compelled to place his hand against the carving. "I just feel drawn to them..."

The carvings then began to glow a soft blue throughout the cave, shining even brighter than Mara's flashlight. "They've never done that before." Keith said, with a mix of awe and nerves in his tone of voice.

Lance backed away from the cave wall and towards the others. Mara quickly looked over her shoulder. "Lance, did you touch something over there?"

Lance frowned and responded right away. "No!"

The ground then began to rumble and crack right beneath them. Mara let out an audible groan. That was when Lance began to panic. "Yes!"

And then the earth beneath them opened up, and they were all falling.

They all quickly realized while they were yelling that the drop down had turned into a water slide down, as they were then quickly deposited onto the wet, muddy ground.

Everyone either moaned or groaned from the impact of the fall. Lance was the first to sit upright, and when he looked forward, he made a loud gasp. "Oh my god, they are everywhere!"

Pidge was the next to get up, taking a few steps towards the glowing lion sphere before them. "Is this it? Is this the Voltron?"

Shiro got on his feet, looked forward and nodded his head. "It must be..." He then looked down and saw Mara still sitting on the ground, completely frozen at the sight before her. He extended his arm. "Need a hand?"

Mara shook her head to get out of her frozen state, and looked up to Shiro. She then gripped his hand and he helped pull her up and onto her feet. Mara blushed when she saw that she was still holding Shiro's hand and quickly let go of it. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Keith was the next to get up, and stood right next to Shiro. "This is what's been causing all of this crazy energy out here. It looks like there's some kind of a barrier around it."

"I wonder what the barrier is made out of..." Pidge wondered out loud, with a small smirk on his face and tiny sparkle in his eye.

Lance was moving side to side, with his eyes locked onto the barrier in front of them. "Uh...Does anyone else get the feeling that this thing is staring at them?"

Shiro raised his eyebrow as he took a glance at the barrier in front of them. "No."

Lance tensed up for a minute, as Hunk made a small laugh. "It's just you, man." But Lance continued to move side to side, at a faster pace this time, as he continued to stare at the barrier. "Yeah I'm pretty sure the eyes are totally following me.

"Or, you're just imagining things!" Mara teased.

"I wonder how we can get past this..." Pidge wondered out loud to himself.

Mara began to rummage through her bag, pushing and shoving various items aside until she found what she was looking for. She then whipped out a rod-shaped object from the bag, and walked towards the barrier. "Let me try using this..." And with the press of a button, a red laser shot out and began to collide with the barrier.

The group exchanged confused glances while Keith just nodded at Mara's actions. "Where did you find her by the way?" Lance asked. Keith turned to face them. "I've known Mara since I was a kid, we were pretty close, we were like brother and sister... Until we both moved on to different places."

Keith glanced over at Mara, who was still trying to melt the barrier with her portable laser tool. "I went to the Garrison and she went to a university overseas. But I personally asked her to come out here because of her expertise."

Mara let out a somewhat loud curse, and turned off the laser. She then walked back over to the group, looking disappointed. Though she was able to catch the last bit of the conversation they were currently having.

"Uh, expertise?" Hunk wondered out loud. Mara placed the laser tool back and her bag and rummaged around again. "I have a dual bachelor's degree in anthropology and archeology." Pidge let out a chuckle as he gestured to the tool in Mara's hands and the heftiness of her bag. "That would explain the bulky bag." Mara looked up, and smiled at Pidge. "Yup, everything I need for when I'm going to a dig site..." her words drifted off as she continued looking through her bag.

"And other things too." She added with a little wink as she looked back up at the others. When her hands came up from her bag empty, she sighed and then turned to Keith. "I don't have any other tools with me. That laser had no effect on it... and it was a high-powered laser."

Lance got a cocky smile on his face as he gave Mara a small push aside and walked up to the lion sphere. "Maybe you just have to knock!" And as soon as his knuckles touched the barrier it disappeared, causing Lance to almost fall forward. Soon, all of their heads were filled with various images of six giant lions flying in space, merging together to form something even bigger. But what was it?"

"Uh, did everyone else just see that?" Lance asked out loud, with a sense of uncertainty in his tone. "Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!" Hunk exclaimed with excitement.

"And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are..." Pidge wondered out loud. If Mara thought that Pidge was really excited a few minutes ago, it did not compare to right now how Pidge was even more excited, with a huge smirk on his face and a bright sparkle in his eye.

But it also made Mara come up with more questions inside of her head. "Could the other Lions also be hidden somewhere here on Earth? Or maybe they are on other planets?" The possibilities were endless, and she felt like her mind was all over the place.

"So this is what they're looking for." Shiro muttered in awe. Keith found himself struck with the same awe and intrigue. "This is incredible." Mara turned to face him. "We did it, Keith."

Keith smiled and then turned to Mara, nodding his head. "Yes, we did."

Lance moved closer to the Lion and to their surprise, the Lion lowered its head down to the ground and then opened its mouth, almost as if it was inviting them inside.

Pidge and Hunk yelped while Mara, Keith, and Shiro flinched and took a step back from the Lion. Lance merely smiled, and began to walk up and into the Lion.

As Lance began to inspect and fiddle around with the controls inside the Lion, everyone else outside exchanged a look with each other before they also started to board the Lion. Mara was the last inside and stepped in-between Shiro and Keith as she glanced around the cockpit. She was right behind Lance, who was now sitting comfortably in the pilot seat. "Whoever built this was very advanced..."

"Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now." Suddenly Lance jumped in his seat. Mara wondered what he must have either heard or seen that made him freak out. "Whoa. Did you guys just hear that?"

Everyone started to look around the room. "Hear what?"

Lance looked back down to the controls in front of him. "I-I think it's talking to me. Hmm... Um..."

"What did it say?" Mara questioned.

Before Lance could reply, a massive roar was heard throughout the Lion. Pidge and Hunk screamed, and all of the noise caused Mara to cover her ears. How was the Lion able to communicate with Lance? And more importantly, why was the Lion only communicating with Lance?

Lance took a deep breath before placing his hands firmly on the controls. "Okay. Got it. Now, let's try this." And in almost an instant, the Lion shot out of the depths of the cave and they were greeted once again with sunshine. Pidge and Hunk screamed yet again and Mara found herself hanging on tightly to the pilot chair. "Wait, are we flying right now?" Mara couldn't believe her eyes.

Lance looked over his shoulder to her, excitedly nodding his head up and down. "Yup, now everybody hold on to your butts!" They shot forward, as Lance began using the various controls inside of the cockpit. They weaved in-between the canyon and the towering rocks, and at one point, they ended up going straight through a large rock formation.

Now they were constantly spinning around in the sky, but Lance continued to claim that he had everything under control. But not everyone agreed. "You are - the worst - pilot - ever!" Keith yelled out loud in-between spins. Mara nodded in agreement, and then turned to face Keith. "I promise, I will never make fun of your piloting skills ever again." Keith gave her a weary smile, before they felt themselves being shot forward once again. Mara suddenly lost her grip on the pilot seat and found herself beginning to fall...Until she felt herself being supported from behind. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Shiro had extended his arm around her, keeping her from falling backwards. She nodded her thanks.

In that moment, Lance had the biggest smile ever on his face. He flew the Lion close to the ground, and soon they were running across the desert. "Isn't this awesome?" Hunk began to sway side to side, and his face appeared to be turning a bit green. "Make it stop. Make it stop." He was afraid he was going to vomit at any minute from the mix of motion and nerves.

Lance's smile got bigger. "I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot." Hearing this, Mara did a double take. "This thing has autopilot?" Lance moved the controls and suddenly they were shooting upward back into the sky. Keith leaned forward and yelled. "Where are you going?"

Lance groaned. "I just said it's on autopilot! It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

Hunk yelped, and had a look of panic on his face. "The aliens are here?!"

A million thoughts were racing through Mara's head. An alien ship approaching Earth right after Shiro arrived? It could have not been a coincidence. But the bigger question on her mind was if these aliens were the good kind or the bad kind.

Pidge quickly shushed Hunk, before leaning forward to be at eye-level with Lance. "What did it say, exactly?"

Lance shrugged, and struggled to find what to say in response. "Well it's not like its saying words, more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of."

Soon everyone had a confused expression on their face. "Well if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, lion. Nothing personal."

Shiro's hand tensed on the pilot seat. "You don't understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."

For a minute there was nothing but silence after Shiro spoke. Mara cleared her throat. "They sound a lot like the Spanish Conquistadors from the 16th century."

Keith folded his hands across his chest and shook his head, with a small smile on his face. "Here we go..." Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith's reaction. Hunk titled his head in confusion. "Conquistadors?"

Mara nodded her head, eager to explain. "They were soldiers under the Spanish rule who traveled to various locations in South America to conquer and colonize there. And they weren't very kind to the natives..."

Hunk cast his eyes downward. "Oh. Never mind then."

The Blue Lion let out another massive roar as they broke through the earth's atmosphere and headed towards the approaching massive ship. Hunk gasped and blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "Uh... Holy cow! Is that really an alien ship?" Shiro froze in his place. "They found me."

All hell broke loose as all of a sudden lasers began to shoot out from the alien ship, going in every direction to try and hit the Lion. Lance was just barely evading them, as he was still trying to get used to the controls in front of him.

Mara's heart sank hearing the tone of Shiro's voice as he spoke. He sounded completely terrified, it was a departure from the tones of his voice that he used earlier. "You recognize that ship?" Mara said quietly.

Shiro slowly nodded. "They were the ones that took me..." Hearing this, Pidge began to panic. "We've got to get it out of here!" Lance quickly took the controls and thrusted them forward. "Hang on!" Everyone was suddenly shouting as they began spinning around again, but this time they were in space. Which made it all the more terrifying. Lance nodded. "All right. Okay, I think I know what to do!"

Pidge frowned while hearing this. "Be careful, man. This isn't a simulator." Lance turned to face Pidge and made a sly smile. "Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator." In that moment Mara's eyes went wide, as she gripped the pilot seat even tighter. "Did you just say you wreck the simulator? What kind of pilot are you?" she yelled.

And the Lion continued to dodge more of the lasers, each time with more ease as Lance got more comfortable. "Let's try this!" Lance then pushed forward one of the controls, as the Lion opened its mouth and fired a large blue laser. It impacted across the entire side of the alien ship, causing an explosion. Lance then flew even closer to the other side of the ship and let the Lion drag its massive claws across, causing even more explosions to occur. Everyone hollered and cheered while Lance smiled to himself. Shiro then patted the pilot's chair. "Nice job, Lance."

Lance turned and beamed at Shiro's praise. "Okay, I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet." The lion then shot forward as it moved further away from the Earth and into the depths of space.

Hunk looked over and saw that one of the monitors was beeping, indicating that they were still being followed. "Oh, no!" he yelled. Everyone glanced over to the monitor to see what Hunk was yelling about. When they saw the large dot on the monitor, they realized what was going on. Pidge gulped. "They're gaining on us!" Lance then made a wise observation. "But it's weird. They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing."

"The lion must be important to them, and they don't want to shoot it and cause damage..." Mara thought out loud. Hunk let out a deep sigh. "Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good? I am not on board with this new direction, guys." Keith rolled his eyes as he scanned around the various screens in the cockpit. They were continuing to move very fast as they passed various objects in space. "Where are we?" Keith asked. Shiro moved forward towards the screen to get a better look ahead of them. "Edge of the solar system. There's Kerberos." Everyone then turned their heads to see the icy blue moon that Shiro was pointing to. "It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds." Pidge said in disbelief. Mara never thought she would ever be in space. She thought that she would always be grounded on the Earth, exploring each and every corner of it. And now here she was. "Amazing..." she thought to herself.

Suddenly, a large blue and white circle appeared in front of them. Mysterious markings and symbols decorated the edge of the circle, and at the center was a dark blue spiral. The entire circle had a weird aura around it. Everyone was quickly taken aback by the sigh before them.

"AHHHHHH what is that?" Hunk yelled.

"Where did it come from?" Mara questioned.

Pidge tilted his head to the side, trying to get a better angle. "It looks like a wormhole..." Hunk turned to face Pidge. "A wormhole?" Lance then spoke up. "Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there!" Everyone suddenly looked at Lance, confusion on all of their faces as they tried to process what he told them. Why does the Lion want them to go through the wormhole? Is the Lion somehow familiar with this kind of wormhole? Pidge was the one who broke the silence. "Where does it go?" Lance shook his head. "I-I don't know. Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?" Everyone then turned to look at Shiro, who turned forward to look at the mysterious wormhole in front of them. "Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together."

Everyone nodded, and looked down to Lance. He adjusted his grip of the controls and looked forward. Lance smiled. "All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow... Well except Keith and Mara."

.⋆✦⋆.

As the Lion flew through the wormhole, everything began to vibrate and there was a high piercing noise. Everyone covered their ears and groaned. A few seconds later, they emerged from the other side of the wormhole, with a mysterious Earth-like planet in front of them. The wormhole then closed behind them. They had escaped the alien ship and now seemed to be in a totally different part of space.

Lance broke the silence in the cockpit. "Whoa. That was..." But before he could finish, Hunk quickly turned around and vomited. He let out a groan. "So sorry." Pidge adjusted his glasses. "I'm just surprised it took this long." Mara glanced over at Hunk with a concerned look on her face. "Is he okay?" Pidge shrugged his shoulders. "He just throws up a lot."

Everyone then glanced around the cockpit monitors, trying to look for anything around them that looked familiar from their solar system. Shiro narrowed his eyes and he looked, then shook his head. "I don't recognize any of these constellations. We must be a long, long way from Earth."

Lance spoke up. "The lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think... I think it's going home."

Mara looked at the planet ahead of them. "Home?" The longer she stared at it, the more she recognized attributes that made her think of the Earth, such as the white clouds, blue oceans, and green landscape. The Lion continued to fly on autopilot as they began to get closer and closer to the planet.

As they began to enter the atmosphere, the Lion began to vibrate and heat up. Everyone circled and clung onto the pilot chair, bracing for the impact. Lance seemed annoyed with all of them crowding around his seat. "Guys, personal space please. Hunk, your breath is killing me." Everyone took a step back, but soon realized that there wasn't a whole lot of room in the cockpit. It was pretty impressive that all six of them were able to fit to begin with. Hunk let out a small apology before he shook his head. "Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?" Lance was quick to retort. "Hey, it got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?"

Keith crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship." Hearing this, Lance gave Keith a smug smile. "Oh? Are you scared?" Keith tensed up for a minute before he turned to look at Lance directly in the eye. "With you at the helm? Terrified."

Mara then pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She really hoped this entire little journey wasn't going to be these two constantly bickering. "Could you both just stop for a second?" Mara said in a calm voice, trying to not have her annoyance slip through her tone. But it was no use, as Lance and Keith continued to bicker.

"All right, knock it off!" Everyone turned, wide-eyed as they looked at Shiro. "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together." The cockpit went silent for a moment as everyone let Shiro's words sink in. "That was very well said." Mara spoke up, nodding at Shiro. Pidge was the next to speak. "So, what do we do?" Shiro thought for a moment. "First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?" Everyone turned to look at Lance, who just stared blankly back at them. "I.. don't know." A look of confusion came across everyone's faces. "What do you mean you don't know? I thought the Lion was talking to you?" Mara questioned. Lance frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry guys. The lion's not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something..." Keith's head shot up as he spoke up. "I'm hearing it, too." Hearing this, Mara looked around the cockpit, trying to find a source for the noise. "I don't hear anything..." Hunk was the next to speak up. "It's, uh - It's kind of a - a high-pitched squeal?" Mara narrowed her eyes as she began to follow the source of the noise towards the pilot chair..."Wait a second." The noise got louder, until everyone realized what Lance was really doing. They all groaned and then covered their noses with their hands. "Come on, Lance!"

"That's so gross!" Mara yelled. Lance smirked, happy with his little stunt. "But seriously, there's a castle up ahead."

They all slowly turned their heads forward, seeing the mysterious alien castle ahead of them. It was completely white, and seemed to be composed of five spires. It was situated on a cliff overlooking an ocean. It was truly beautiful. "Look at that. I've never seen a castle like this before..." Mara was in complete awe. She had seen castles before when she studied in Europe, but this was something completely new and foreign to her. It made her feel very excited. The Lion then seemed to emit some kind of pulse, as the top of the spires began to glow. The Lion then flew towards the entrance of the castle and landed. "Keep your guard up." Mara frowned at hearing this while Pidge raised an eyebrow and turned to face Shiro. "Something wrong?" Shiro let out a sigh. "My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again." Pidge and Mara look downward, thinking back to the Kerberos mission, and how Shiro presumably was the only one who came back. Hunk looked towards the back of the cockpit. "So how do we get out of this thing again?"

Right as Hunk finished his question, the lion got down on the ground and opened up its mouth, where the stairs from earlier re-appeared. Mara couldn't help but be impressed with how the lion seemed to pick up on everyone's thoughts, and wondered back to how Lance mentioned that the lion had communicated with him telepathically.

The group then slowly exited from the Lion, taking in everything before them. They were on an alien planet. Nobody else from Earth had ever been on this planet, and here they were, the first ones. To their surprise, it also seemed like there was oxygen on the planet, so they didn't have to worry about suffocating. Mara couldn't help but think back to how the first colonists must have felt when they came to a new land, and compare it to what she was experiencing right now. It was like a whole new world.

Hunk looked towards the massive entrance doors to the castle. "So how do we get inside?"

"Should we try knocking on the door? It worked pretty well last time..." Lance replied, while looking right at Mara with a sneer on his face. "You're welcome for that, by the way." Lance added, shooting finger guns at Mara, who quickly rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

The lion rose from the ground to stand on all four of its paws once again, and began to open its mouth wide. Everyone gasped and looked over their heads with a look of fear in their eyes. What was happening now?

Hunk began to panic. "No, no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!"

The Blue Lion then made a massive roar and the ground began to shake. They all looked forward and saw that the doors to the castle were beginning to open for them.

Hunk slowly moved from his hiding spot behind Shiro. "Oh, the door is open. Guess I was wrong about you..." Mara turned around and smiled. "Thanks, lion!"

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Hello and welcome back to chapter two of Balance of the Universe. You could say that I ended on a cliffhanger, but we all know what's coming up next. Plus, I thought it would be a good stopping point, since the chapter was already over 3,000 words.**

 **The dynamic between Lance and Mara begins a little rocky, mostly because Mara does not like that Lance is so rude to Keith. But as we know over time, Lance eases up on his taunts/rudeness to Keith, which makes Mara begin to see him in a better light. There are still times however that Mara is annoyed by Lance, but it's mostly his flirting skills or bad jokes.**

 **Also, in regards to Mara talking about Keith's piloting skills… Mara is not the biggest fan of flying. I KNOW, IRONIC, ISN'T IT? She has a low-key fear of heights, but since she's gonna be piloting the White Lion and flying all around the universe, she kind of has to get over it. Mara doesn't know however, that Keith was the star pilot in his class back at the Garrison, so she assumed his skills were average.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

As they began to walk inside of the darkened castle, Mara reached into her bag and brought out her flashlight. As she turned it on, she realized that the light emitting from it was very small compared to the massive space that they were in, but at least they could see a little bit of where they were going.

Hunk was at the end of the group, looking around the empty foyer. "Hello?" His voice echoed across the castle, as everyone turned to look at Hunk with surprise. He simply shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk forward. The others shared a quick glance at each other and then followed Hunk.

They soon stopped as they found themselves in front of a staircase. Pidge titled his head to the side.

"From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger."

Mara took a step forward, next to Pidge. "Odds are that they are not for the lion..."

She then turned around to face the others. "Think about it, we were able to fit inside a lion, and then Lance piloted us here in the same lion."

Hunk turned back towards the open castle doors, where the Blue Lion was still silently standing. "So the lions are just spaceships?"

Mara slowly nodded, as she looked to Pidge to back up her reasoning. Pidge then gave her a nod, as he turned to face the staircase again. "But then the question is..." he began to say, as Mara finished his thought. "Who created the lions...?"

All of a sudden, the center light above them flickered and came to life, and a massive beam of blue light began to shine upon them. Everyone took a few steps back and they ended up forming a small circle at the center of the room. Then a computer-like voice then began to speak to them. "Please hold for identity scan."

"Wait, what?" Pidge yelled. Mara shook her head. "Identity scan?" Within seconds, each of them began to be engulfed in the blue light. It started from the floor and slowly rose up, passing over their bodies one by one. Everyone stood still in a mixture of fear and confusion while they were scanned by the alien technology. "Why are we here? What do you want with us?" Shiro's voice rung out. The light flickered once again, before all of the lights on the walls began to turn on. As the looked on in complete awe, the hallway above the staircase became illuminated with light. "I guess we're going that way." Pidge said, as he shrugged his shoulders and began to walk forward. The others soon followed, going down various staircases and corridors of the massive castle. Every now and then, Hunk would call out into the darkness.

"Hello?" But the only reply they got was Hunk's own voice echoing back to them.

.⋆✦⋆.

Eventually they came to a central room in the castle, where there was a small console in the center and had massive columns around the edges of the room. "Where are we?" Lance questioned out loud.

Pidge made his way towards the small console in the center of the room. "It's... some kind of control room." Just as he was about to touch the console, it began to light up automatically, and two pods began to emerge from the floor, covered in fog. Everyone gasped, and Hunk went to hide behind the console. Everyone then began to stare at the pods. It seemed that there was two figures, who appeared to be almost humanoid at first glance. Hunk slowly emerged from his hiding spot to look around. "Are these guys... dead?" Mara found herself slowly moving towards one of the pods, with Keith right behind her.

"They look like cryo pods..." Lance turned his head towards Mara. "Cryo pods? Like in those science fiction movies?" Mara made a small smile and nodded to Lance. Pidge was the next to speak. "Should we wake them up?" All of a sudden, the lights at the bottom of the cryo pods began to light up, and the barrier between the pod and the humanoid began to vanish. Hunk ducked behind the console again. "Looks like they already are!"

The fog slowly cleared, revealing a dark-skinned young woman, who was regally dressed and had long white hair that seemed to flow in waves behind her back. But what Mara found was most interesting was that she also had pointed ears and two mysterious markings underneath each eye. The woman remained still for a moment before he eyes began to flutter open. She then gasped, and began to fall forwards. "Father!"

Lance was quick to run and catch her in his arms before she fell. The young woman still seemed dazed as she looked up towards Lance. Even from a fair distance away, Mara could see the goofy smile and blush all over Lance's face. "Hello."

The young woman's eyes squinted. "Who are you? Where am I?" she then began to look around the room, eyes quickly passing over them all, before she looked up towards Lance again. "I'm Lance. And you're right here in my arms." Everyone then groaned at Lance's pick up line attempt. Mara slowly leaned over to whisper in Keith's ear. "Did he seriously just say that?" Keith nodded his head. "I'm afraid so."

The young woman then had a concerned expression on her face. "Your ears..."

Lance made a small frown, as he looked through the corner of his eye at his left ear. "Yeah?"

The young woman took a small step back, and a look of disgust was now on her face. "They're hideous. What's wrong with them?" Lance tensed up for a moment, before shooing her hand away from his ear. "Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!"

In a flash, the young woman had Lance on the ground and was holding him down by his ear. Lance let out a small yelp of pain. "Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?" The young woman yelled, with a hard expression on her face.

Lance began to talk quickly. "A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know!"

The young woman's expression softened, and she let go of Lance's ear. "How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?"

Shiro took a step forward. "We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help."

The young woman turned towards Shiro, before she quickly regained her composure. "I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep." Allura then placed both of her hands on the central console. As it began to light up, Pidge watched her motions closely, with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Okay, that's how that works."

Allura then turned towards the other pod as it began to open. An older man with orange hair and beard who seemed to be dressed in similar attire to the Princess slowly began to step out of the pod.

He dozed off for a moment before his eyes were lit up and full of life, as he gasped at the scene before him. "Enemy combatants!" He then began to try and fight Lance, only to find that his motions were slow and limited. As he lunged forward, Lance simply took a step to the left. The orange-haired man grunted in frustration as he leaned onto one of the pods for support. "Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old "sleep chamber knees. Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so - and one, two, three -" He then snapped his fingers. "Sleepy time!"

Mara watched the entire scene unfold, with a somewhat amused expression on her face. She then looked towards Keith. He was off to the side with his arms crossed. He seemed like he was in a defensive position, looking at everything and everyone in the room while he thought to himself. At the moment however, he seemed really focused on the interaction between Lance and the orange-haired alien.

Mara then turned to look towards Shiro. He was standing right next to the Princess, with a somewhat worried expression on his face. Pidge and Hunk were right at his side, looking at him for guidance and possibly... leadership? It made sense to Mara, given the way that Lance had called him the "senior officer" earlier when they were flying in the lion, and the way that Shiro held himself which such confidence when he spoke to everyone or when he stopped an argument.

As Allura typed on the console, various monitors began to appear in front of her. A series of beeps began and everyone turned towards to source of the noise. Allura blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining what was in front of her. "It can't be." her voice came out, almost like a whisper. She then took a weary step back. The orange-haired alien noticed this and stopped paying attention to Lance. "What is it?" he asked, with major concern in his voice. The Princess slowly turned to face him, with a look of shock and sadness all over her face. "We've been asleep for 10,000 years!"

"What?!" Hunk yelled in surprise. Mara's eyes widened. "Did you say 10,000 years?"

It seemed as though time slowed down as Coran and Allura looked at each other. Mara wondered if they were simultaneously thinking back to the moments before they were placed into the cryo pods.

Allura slowly shook her head in disbelief. "Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. And our entire civilization..." Allura cast her eyes downward. She felt like she was going to collapse from the realization. There was so much sadness and pain inside of her right now. Allura then looked up, with an expression on her face that could only be described as pure rage and hatred. "Zarkon!"

Shiro gasped at the name. "Zarkon?" Keith then placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Shiro? You alright?" Shiro gave him a small nod. Allura spoke up. "He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people." Shiro closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back to when he was captured. "I remember now... I was his prisoner." Allura's eyes widened at Shiro's words. "He's still alive? But that's impossible!"

Shiro just shrugged his shoulders. "I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron." Allura's eyes flashed with recognition when Shiro mentioned Voltron. She then spoke up. "He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does. And with that, Princess Allura turned and began typing furiously on the console, bringing up various screens of information and diagrams. Coran exited the room for a moment and the group was left alone with the alien Princess. While most of them just stood there fiddling with their fingers and taking long glances across the room, Mara had out her journal and was scribbling various notes about what they had just learned from the ancient aliens.

.⋆✦⋆.

Coran returned to the room a few moments later and came up behind Princess Allura with a plate of mysterious green goo that Mara could only assume was some kind of food. "Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years." Allura glanced over at the plate, then frowned. "I'm not hungry."

Lance heard his stomach grumble at the thought of food. "Man, 10,000 years? That's like one thousand plus ten." Keith rolled his eyes. "That's... times ten." Lance frowned and let out a scoff. "Whatever, dropout." Mara quickly elbowed Lance's side and heard him let out a whimper of pain and then turned to face the Princess. "What did you say the name of your home planet was again?"

Allura looked down to see Mara taking notes, and gave her a small smile. "Altea." Mara nodded her thanks and scribbled the name down in her journal. She tapped her pen on the paper for a moment. "And what planet are we on right now?" This time, Coran was the one who spoke up with the answer. "Right now we are on a planet called Arus." Mara nodded her thanks again and scribbled the other name down.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place." Shiro wondered out loud. Coran made a small smile at Shiro's words. "Yes, it was... but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive." He then turned to face the Princess, who was now crying softly at his words. Mara made a frown and cast her eyes downward. She couldn't even imagine the sadness that Coran and Allura must be feeling as being the last of their species, but also having no planet to call home anymore and losing everyone and everything they knew and cared about. She soon found herself walking over to the Princess, and with a small amount of hesitation, placed her hand on Allura's shoulder in comfort. Allura blinked through some of her tears and looked over her shoulder to see Mara's gesture, and gave her a small smile.

Suddenly, alarms started blaring all over the room, and the lights flashed red. Coran ran over to the monitor. "A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!" Allura jerked around to face Coran, as her eyes widened in fear. "How did they find us?"

"I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith's fault." Lance said, as he jerked his finger backwards. Mara looked to Lance with a confused look on her face. "What?!" How did Lance make the leap in logic that Keith was at fault for how the Galra found them? More importantly, what did Lance have against Keith? Right away, Keith took a step towards Lance. "Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better after getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"

Lance took a step forward and got more in Keith's face. "I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Mara sighed as Shiro then stepped in-between the two, separating them. "Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team." Keith and Lance crossed their arms, shooting quick glares at each other. Shiro then turned to Coran. "How long before they arrive?"

Coran titled his head in thought. "At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days." Allura took a sigh of relief and nodded. "Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you six will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

There was silence in the room for second, until a large burp echoed throughout the room. Everyone turned to face Hunk, who had been eating the plate of mysterious green goo. "Sorry. Too much food goo." He said as he shrugged his shoulders. His stomach rumbled and he let out a groan before taking a step away from the plate. The group then turned their attention back to Coran and Allura. Shiro broke the silence. "Princess, there are six of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?"

Coran clapped and dimmed the lights before clearing his throat. "King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts." Coran then looked to Allura who gave him a small nod, as Allura lifted up her hands and a giant holographic star map appeared all around them. "Whoa!"

Pidge took a step forward. "These are coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion." Allura smiled. "Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other five lions are present."

Mara bit her lip, holding back the question that was on her lips. Why was the Black Lion so significant to Zarkon compared to the others? Did Zarkon have some kind of connection to the Black Lion?

Allura continued the conversation. "As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

Allura then swiped to the right a few times and brought up an image of a holographic lion that was covered in the color black. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion." Allura swiped once more to the right and an image of a holographic lion that was covered in the color green appeared in front of her. "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. "

Allura then swiped multiple times to the left and brought up an image of a holographic lion that was covered in the color blue. "The Blue Lion -" But Lance quickly interrupted her. "Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" He flashed his best smile at Allura, while everyone else groaned. Allura frowned for a moment as she swiped left once again and brought up an image of a holographic lion that was covered in yellow. "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together." Hunk pointed at himself and let out a grunt, unsure about his new role.

Allura switched back to swiping right again as she brought up an image of a holographic lion that was covered in the color red. "The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion." At hearing this, Lance let out a scoff. "What? This guy? Once again, Mara elbowed Lance's side and heard him let out a whimper in pain. "What was that for?" he yelled, glaring at Mara. "Because you were being rude!" she yelled back at him, before turning to face away from Lance.

Allura sighed and looked to Keith with an apologetic look on her face. "Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work." Coran then came up from behind and gave Keith a pat on the back. "Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me "The Coranic" for nothing. It's because it sounds like "mechanic." So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not - It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar."

Allura then turned to face Mara, with a smile on her face. She swiped left to the final holographic lion that was covered in the color white. "And finally, The White lion is the center or base of Voltron. It represents balance, unity, and focus among all. Mara, you will pilot the White Lion."

Mara's eyes widened as she stared between the White Lion hologram and Allura. "Me? But I am the least experienced of everyone here!"

Allura tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?" Mara motioned towards the others. "They've all had extensive training in the Galaxy Garrison. All I have is a dual bachelor's degree in archeology and anthropology! I know nothing compared to all of them!"

The room was silent for a moment before Coran rose his hand to speak up. "What is this archeology and anthropology?"

Mara sighed, as Keith put his hand on her shoulder as a re-assuring gesture. "We'll help you out, don't worry." Allura made a small smile at the pair, before swiping and linking all of the lions together in front of her. "Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."

Everyone stared at the massive hologram in front of them. It was just like how they pictured when they had seen the visions of Voltron earlier in the cave back on Earth. "Whoa, awesome!" Lance exclaimed.

Hunk quickly interrupted. "Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?" Hunk then gestured towards his lower belly. Allura and Coran had confused expressions on their faces.

Shiro quickly turned to face the others. "We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, you and Mara will go grab the white lion. If Allura can find the red lion, then we'll regroup and go after it together."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed." Allura said, as she began typing away again at the center console. Coran took a step forward. "I'll ready some pods and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green and White lions."

Everyone then walked to the hangar section of the ship, where they began to pair of and prepare to leave. Mara decided to leave the piloting to Keith, as she was still nervous about having to pilot her own lion shortly. Keith gave her a small nod. "You know you're going to have to fly us back, right?"

Mara crossed her arms and pouted. "Yes, I know that!" She then snuck a glance at Keith who was just staring at her, with one of his eyebrows raised. Mara unfolded her arms and sighed. "I'm sorry Keith... It's just that I feel so over pressured and unknowledgeable compared to everyone else." Mara then cast her eyes downward. This entire situation that they were in was completely out of her field of expertise, and it made her feel very uneasy. "I meant what I said back there. About how we'll all be here to help you." Mara slowly looked up at Keith, who now had a small smile on his face. Mara slowly nodded, before she leaned in closer towards Keith. "I'm totally gonna hug you right now." she announced, as she then threw her arms around Keith who didn't know how to react at first with her gesture, but eventually returned the hug. Mara let out a small laugh as Keith rolled his eyes and began to fiddle with the controls of the pod. Within a few minutes, two pods and the Blue Lion were back in space. When they made it to a certain point, they all began to separate, as three glowing wormholes appeared in front of them.

Coran's voice then came over the communication channel. "We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, two of planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives."

"What?!" Pidge exclaimed. Mara shook her head. "What about the third planet?!" Mara yelled, the panic rising in her voice. Everyone began yelling and protesting at once.

Lance was next to voice his thoughts. "Wait! What? No!" Hunk's voice was next over the channel. "I did not receive the memo on this." But Coran simply ignored all of their protests and continued talking. "Well, enjoy the trip! Goodbye!"

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: We've made it now to chapter three! It seems like every chapter so far keeps increasing in word length, even though I'm trying my hardest to balance enough content but not too much content… Hopefully I'll find a balance soon.**

 **But we've finally landed on Arus, and have met our two favorite Alteans (not to mention, the only Alteans we knew of at the time). Mara is going to have such a field day with them, and will be asking them a ton of questions about their home planet and their culture. She will eventually become very close with Allura, becoming like a confidant for her.**

 **On a side note, season seven will be released on Friday, and you bet I'm eager with anticipation to see what we will have in store story-wise. From clips and little info I've already seen, I do have ideas for how to incorporate Mara (and a few OCs yet to appear). But the bottom line is, I'm not ready for this season. I'm still in a bit of recovery from the last one to be honest.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The pod that Mara and Keith were in shot through the wormhole, shaking and vibrating the entire time. Mara desperately gripped the sides of her seat as Keith tried to steady the controls. "Whoa!"

They soon emerged from the other side of the wormhole, and everything stopped moving. Mara and Keith both caught their breath, as they glanced at one another. "You know, that time it wasn't as bumpy." Keith let out a small laugh. "Oh, so you're funny now?"

Mara rolled her eyes in response and sat back further in her seat. "Lead the way." Keith nodded and the pod began to move towards the giant planet in front of them.

Keith looked down at the navigation device that Coran had given them. "Well it looks like we are at the coordinates for the White Lion..."

Mara titled her head to the side. "It reminds me of Jupiter... A gas giant planet."

Keith frowned. "But what's with all of the black spots?"

Mara's eyes narrowed in thought, before she snapped her fingers. "Maybe they are like the red spot on Jupiter!"

Keith's eyes widened as he turned to face Mara. "But isn't the red spot on Jupiter a giant storm?"

Mara's smile faded as she began to think back about the facts of Jupiter. She had once helped Antoine study for school by drilling him with facts about each of the planets in the solar system. "Yes it is... But wait...Maybe one of the spots is hiding the white lion!" Mara wondered out loud. In theory, it was a great idea to hide the lion in one of the black spots, because people would then be too scared to go near it because they don't know what is really on the inside. Keith slowly nodded as he listened to her thoughts, but hesitated when he looked down at the controls in front of him. "But what if the black spots are giant storms like the red spot on Jupiter?"

Mara bit her lip, uncertain what to say or do next. She held the navigation device right in front of her face, as her eyes narrowed to focus. She looked at the flashing coordinates for a few seconds, before she gave a firm nod to Keith, placing her hand over his on the controls. "We don't know that for sure... But according to the coordinates that Allura gave us, we need to fly right into that black spot over there."

Keith thought back to when Allura was describing the mystical bond that each pilot shared with their lions. How it went beyond the realms of being explained by science and was something that you just... Feel with your heart and mind. He looked ta Mara's hand over his own, as she gave him a weary smile. He then nodded, and together, they moved the handle forward. "Let's go!"

As they got closer and closer to the atmosphere of the gas planet, the pod began to experience some slight turbulence. "Brace yourself!" Keith yelled, as he tried to steady the controls as they began to enter the black mass. Mara gulped as she closed her eyes, hoping that her thinking wasn't wrong or misguided.

Within moments, the turbulence stopped, Mara opened her eyes and saw that they were surrounded by a thick layer of what appeared to be fog.

Mara breathed a sigh of relief before she turned to face Keith. "Okay, so the black spots aren't giant storms... Good to know".

Keith gave her a small nod, before he looked forward. "But I still can't see anything..." he said, as he squinted his eyes and even tried to enhance the pod's monitors to get a better view of what was outside. The navigation device began to beep in Mara's hands, as she then held it up to Keith's gaze. "The pod says there is something up ahead."

Slowly the pod moved forward, going through blankets and blankets of the fog, until a dim silhouette began to appear in front of them. Keith accelerated them forward as the fog began to slowly fade away and the silhouette came forward. They both gasped at the sight in front of them.

"Look at that! It's floating in the air!" she exclaimed, as she pointed towards the floating fortress in front of them. It seemed to be made out of some sort of white stone material, and was covered with ancient alien markings on all sides. As they got closer to the structure, Keith noticed something. "What's that surrounding it?" Mara leaned forward in her chair. "Another force field maybe?" She then thought back to how when they first discovered the Blue Lion back on earth, there was a similar force field that was protecting it. Mara then remembered that Lance had touched the barrier and it disappeared.

Almost as if her thoughts were read, the pod began to glow, and then the force field around the fortress began to glow and the barrier between them disappeared. Keith and Mara exchanged a surprise look with each other before looking forward once again. "Let's head inside then."

.⋆✦⋆.

As soon as they had entered the structure, the force field came back to life, surrounding the structure. Keith landed the pod in a small area just by the entrance, before he slowly got up from his chair and began to move towards the back of the pod. Mara sat still for a second, her nerves wreaking havoc all across her body and mind. She turned to look at Keith, who had his hand stretched out in front of her. She hesitated for just a moment, before she gripped his hand. Together, they exited the small pod and began walking around the floating fortress. Mara's nerves slowly faded into the background as she found herself surrounded by ancient alien markings and history. She gazed at every corner, every wall with a sense of wonder. It was like how she was when they first entered the castle back on Arus.

"Wow... Just... wow. I wish we had more time, I would love to document all of this..." she whispered to herself as she continued to look around in awe. Of course, this would be the one time where she left her bag back at the castle and they were pressed for time to find her Lion. She silently cursed to herself as they continued to walk forward. Before they knew it, they found themselves right in front of a door that had a faded white lion marking above it.

Mara looked to Keith, who just stood there with his arms crossed. He then nudged Mara forward.

"I'll leave you to it, then."

Mara gave him a weary smile before she took a deep breath and began to walk through the doorway. With each step that she took, her heart hammered in her chest. This had to be one of the most nerve-wracking moments of her life. She soon found herself standing in front of the White Lion, protected of course, by another force field. Mara looked down at her hand before she slowly raised it up and placed her palm on the force field. It took her a moment to find the words to speak. "H-Hello there... So you're the white lion?" Almost exactly after hearing her words, the force field quickly faded, and Mara heard a loud purring noise coming from the mechanical beast in front of her. Mara made a small smile. "What was it Allura said? Balance, unity and focus I think? Sounds like I'm going to have to do a lot more meditation."

As if satisfied with her answer, the White Lion let out a roar and its mouth suddenly opened, causing Mara to take a step back in surprise. She looked up at the eyes of the Lion and slowly nodded her head. It was time. "Here we go..." she said, as she began to walk up the ramp and into the cockpit of the White Lion. She found herself looking at all of the controls and monitors on the sides that slowly came to life as she got closer and closer to the pilot seat.

She still was feeling nervous and overwhelmed, but she was also feeling something else. It all seemed... familiar and new at the same time for her. Mara wondered if this was the bond that Allura was talking about earlier. Mara slid into the pilot seat, and noticed it was a little too far away from the controls than what she wanted. But before she could look for the seat adjustor, the seat moved forward on its own, bringing Mara right in front of the controls. A little bit shaken, she glanced around the cockpit and nodded her head in thanks.

Mara sat down in the pilot's seat, when just a moment later the head display screen was full of static before it came to life. The figure on the screen appeared to be another Altean, and a female one to be specific. She had wavy, bright blue hair that went to her shoulders and white triangle markings on her face. "Greetings, future Paladin of the White Lion" The figure on the screen said. Her voice was smooth, yet authoritative to Mara's ears. Mara slowly tilted her head in curiosity as she looked at the screen, wondering if this could be a recording of some sort from the past. "I am Suroa of Planet Altea, the first Paladin of the White Lion."

Mara nodded to herself, confirming what she had just heard. Yup, it was definitely a recording from the past. But she learned the previous and first Paladin of the White Lion was from Altea, Princess Allura's home planet. Mara then wondered to herself if Princess Allura had previously known Suroa. What was she like? Mara hoped that someday she would be able to ask Princess Allura.

Suroa continued to speak on the screen. "You have come across the White Lion and have been chosen to become its new Paladin. To become a Paladin of Voltron is a great honor, and a great responsibility."

The screen then erupted into static, and Mara looked frantically towards the controls. Had she accidentally hit a button that was now fast-forwarding the recording? Or was the message simply so old that it was now hard to completely process inside of the Lion? Throughout the static, Mara was able to make out a few of the words, such as "Balance", "Unity", and "Focus". She thought that it sounded a lot like earlier when Princess Allura was describing the traits of each Lion. Perhaps Suroa was just re-enforcing those traits? The static then abruptly stopped and the picture and audio were clear once again as Suroa spoke. "Find the others and join forces to become the greatest defender that the universe has ever seen."

Mara couldn't help but shudder at Suroa's words. Becoming the greatest defender of the universe? It sounded like a LOT of responsibility and with that responsibility, comes pressure. Mara could feel the nerves of anxiety creeping slowly into her body and slowly gestured her hands to cradle her head.

But when she looked back up at the screen, she saw that Suroa was softly smiling. To Mara, it seemed like Suroa was truly right in front of her in real time, and had been able to sense her distress. "It may be hard at first, but you can do it. For I believe in you" Suroa said, he voice now sounding soothing yet positive.

And Mara couldn't help but smile a little bit, as she then felt the nerves retreating out of her system. Suroa gave one last smile before the screen became full of static once again. And after a few seconds, the screen went completely black and the recording ended. After hearing the recording from Suroa, Mara closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she placed her hands on the controls, gripping them firmly. She sat there for a few moments, taking everything in around her, waiting for something to happen... But after a few moments passed, Mara realized that she was doing something wrong. She tried pressing buttons on the control panel to see if she could bring up Suroa's recording again, to see if in the static was directions on how to pilot the Lion. After a few tries and seeing nothing happen, she sighed and hanged her head in defeat.

Mara pressed a button on the console, hoping it was the intercom. "Uh Keith, what do I do? I've never flown anything before." Keith soon entered the room, and stared up at the White Lion in front of him.

Keith called out. "Hold on a second, I'm coming inside..."

Mara looked around the cockpit and hit a random button, hoping that the ramp would come down and let Keith come inside to help her. Mara could soon hear Keith's footsteps as her entered the cockpit, and he was soon at her side. She looked up at him with a weary smile on her face. "Lance made it look so easy earlier..."

Keith re-assured her. "Don't worry about it. Allura said it will almost come naturally to you through the bond you have with the lion... Just take it easy at first." he said, as he guided her hand back to the main controls. Mara's grip on the control eased up as she tried to become in synch with the White Lion. "Just take it easy..." she slowly chanted, as she began to move the controls forward. But her hands were now shaking, and The White Lion lurched forward, crashing into one of the pillars in the room. "Sorry! Sorry!" Mara quickly yelled as she cringed at the sound of impact before looking at Keith with a nervous look on her face. Keith however, seemed unfazed about what had just happened, and nodded at Mara to continue forward.

Suddenly, the communication channel opened up, and Princess Allura's face was on the monitor screen in front of them. "Paladins, please hurry back. I can't hold the wormhole much longer." Mara bit her lip as the screen faded. She then felt Keith's hand on her shoulder. "You can do it Mara, I know you can."

Mara looked at Keith for a few seconds, before she placed her hands on the controls again. Her grip was gentle and her hands slowly stopped shaking. "I'm with you every step of the way." Keith whispered into her ear, as he stood right behind her pilot chair. Mara then slowly and smoothly moved the controls forward, and the White Lion began to run towards the entrance of the floating fortress. Mara could feel herself beginning to smile, as the White Lion began to pick up speed.

They soon found themselves shooting out of the floating fortress and back into the fog. Mara had a sudden burst of excitement and pushed the controls even more forward as their speed increased. Within minutes, they shot right out of the black spot and began to leave the atmosphere of the gas planet.

Mara raised her hands up in victory. "I did it!" she yelled, before turning to Keith.

He smiled and gave her a thumbs up, before she turned back towards the front monitor with a determined look on her face. "Now let's get back to the others!"

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara was piloting the White Lion through the massive halls of the floating fortress, with a huge smile on her face the entire time. Keith couldn't help but glance down at Mara every few seconds, and see the expression on her face. Her confidence was growing every second she was at the controls, and Keith had no doubt in his mind that she would become a great pilot. She would still need more practice, but she had potential. Keith had seen that even back on Earth, when he had taught her how to ride a hoverbike.

Eventually, the White Lion zoomed out of the entrance and through an opening in the force field. They were then back to traveling through the fog, but at a faster speed compared to when they were in the Altean pod. Mara thought back to how when they were in the Blue Lion, they had made it from Earth to the edge of the solar system in a few seconds.

Within seconds, they burst through the fog and were leaving the atmosphere of the gas planet. The wormhole was directly above them, waiting for them to go through and get back to Arus. Mara looked over her shoulder to look at Keith, who gave her a firm nod. Mara grinned and thrusted the controls forward, increasing their speed as they dashed through the wormhole. There was a bit of shaking and vibrating, but it was not as bad as it was in the pod.

The White Lion emerged from the other side of the wormhole, and began to make its way down through the Arusian atmosphere. "You're going to want to ease up on your speed." Keith said, as the cockpit began to shake and vibrate during their re-entry. Mara nodded, and pulled back on the controls, slowing the Lion down.

Mara eventually landed the White Lion in front of the entrance to the Castle, right next to the Green Lion. Pidge and Shiro where standing off to the side, waving at them. Mara and Keith quickly began to exit the Lion as it began to power down. "Looks like you guys were pretty successful!" Pidge exclaimed.

Mara nodded. "I still can't believe how fast the Lion was. It was such an amazing feeling to pilot it!"

Shiro let out a small laugh. "That's exactly how I felt the first time I got to fly. There's nothing else quite like it." Mara looked over to Shiro and smiled. "You're absolutely right."

.⋆✦⋆.

The doors hissed open, revealing a tired and weary Lance and Hunk. Allura smiled and clasped her hands together. "You made it!" Lance rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!" Hearing this, Hunk let out a groan. "Think how I felt. I am Hunk!"

"At least you probably didn't crash into anything..." Mara mumbled. Lance turned his head to face Mara. "What was that?" Mara's eyes widened, not realizing that Lance had heard what she mumbled. But Keith was quick with a response. "We had a few bumps along the way, but Mara got the hang of it." He then placed his hand on Mara's shoulder. She smiled at his re-assuring gesture. "Thanks, Keith."

"Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Shiro questioned. All eyes turned to Coran and Allura, who had been looking for the Red Lion while everyone was off finding their Lions. Coran cleared his throat before speaking. "Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!"

"They're here already?" Shiro said, taken aback. Coran slowly nodded in confirmation. "Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting is - it's more of an art than a science... Hmm?" All of a sudden, there was static, and the monitor behind Allura activated. It seemed that they were receiving a transmission! An alien face appeared on the screen, it appeared to have purple fur and large, fluffy ears. What really seemed to be an intriguing detail was that the alien appeared to have a cybernetic eye! "Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." The transmission ended, and the room became very tense, as looks of worry and panic appeared on everyone's faces.

"All right, let's try not to panic." Shiro said in a calm, strong voice. But Hunk was quick to burst that bubble. "Not panic? Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have five lions." Pidge corrected him. "Technically, only four working lions." Hunk patted Pidge on the shoulder before he continued. "That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Four working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old." Now it was Coran's turn to correct Hunk. "Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather -" Hunk quickly covered Coran's mouth silencing him. "Yeah thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

Allura's eyes lit up in realization as she spoke up. "Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Lance was quick to give the Princess a flirty smile. "Girl, you've already activated my par-" But Shiro cut him off before he could finish his line. "Lance!" Mara groaned at Lance's action. Now was seriously not the time to be flirting, and it seemed like even Shiro was annoyed with Lance. Coran pulled up some diagnostics and diagrams of the Galra ship. "The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Well yeah, 10,000 years is plenty of time for a civilization to advance technology wise." Mara thought out loud. "Heck, even 100 years could still produce major advancements in a society." Allura and Coran looked at Mara with concerned expressions at her words. Hunk's posture slumped as he looked at the screen. "Can we panic now?" he questioned out loud.

Shiro shook his head. "No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly."

Lance was first to announce his plan. "I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day."

Hunk steadily nodded his head. "I second that. Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have four. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance that you were talking about."

Lance smiled, and began walking over to the Alteans. "Then, it's settled. Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy." Allura had a look of confusion on her face while Coran had a look of anger on his face for being called 'the old guy'. Pidge frowned at Lance's words. "We can't just abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them."

Hunk sighed. "Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we slither out of here."

Mara noticed that Keith had been silent for most of the conversation. She had a feeling that she knew what Keith was going to want to do, and that it would most likely lead to an argument between him and Lance. Sure enough, Keith decided it was time for him to speak up as he locked eyes with Lance and Hunk. "Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option."

Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith. "Here's an option: shut your quiznak." Coran and Allura looked at Lance with shocked looks on their faces. Mara wondered if this was because Lance had said the word 'quiznak' without knowing what it really meant. Judging by the looks on their faces, it definitely wasn't something good. She made a mental note to herself to ask what that word really meant. "I don't think you're using that word correctly." Keith growled, as he started to move towards Lance. "What do you know, Mullet?" Lance said, letting out a scoff.

"We're staying." Keith yelled.

"Leaving!" Lance yelled.

At this point, Keith and Lance were standing face-to-face with each other, both sporting determined yet angry facial expressions. Mara let out a sigh, before she walked over to stand in-between the two. "Alright, that's enough you two."

But her words fell on deaf ears. A few moments later, Pidge and Hunk took sides in the argument, with Pidge standing next to Keith and Hunk standing next to Lance.

"Staying!" Pidge yelled.

"Snake!" Hunk yelled.

All of a sudden, Shiro's voice boomed over the yelling. "Guys, stop! Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"

Allura didn't know what to say in that moment. "I... I don't know..." It made her think back to the last time that she had talked about deploying Voltron... Right before her father had told her it was too late and put her into cyrosleep. She frowned at the memory. Coran looked over to Allura. "Perhaps your father can help." Allura's eyes widened, before she turned to face Coran. "My father?" Coran then motioned for Allura to follow him, and the two aliens swiftly left the room.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Chapter four is here! Mara found the White Lion! And a mysterious transmission from an Altean woman named Suroa, who claims that she was the first Paladin of the White Lion. We will learn more about Suroa in a couple of chapters, but I can give you some basic info. Suroa was a childhood friend of King Alfor, and at one point she was supposed to marry him (but it didn't end up happening). Later on she became one of his most trusted friends and advisors, and was the godmother to Allura.**

 **Also, I just wanted to mention that I re-formatted and edited the past few chapters, so you may want to go back and re-read them just to be safe. Since we have a LOT of story to go, I'm trying to have each chapter be between 4-5k words. I might even end up splitting each season into its own story, but I haven't made any final decisions yet.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mara decided to take the opportunity to walk over to Shiro, who seemed to be deep in his own thoughts. Besides her, he was the only other person who didn't voice their thoughts on what they should do. Mara wanted to know what he was thinking inside of his head. "Shiro, what do you think we should do?"

Shiro: Honestly I don't know. Part of me wants to go and fight this Zarkon for what he did to me and the Holts... But another part of me wants to just go home and be with my family, to have a normal life again... What about you?" Mara crossed her arms over her chest. "We just got thrust into something that's way bigger than all of us. I would say I'm pretty overwhelmed, but if we run away and do nothing, we might not have much time before these monsters come to Earth." Mara then turned towards the monitors displaying the Galra ship. "In all of the times in history, typically when one population invades the other, it never usually goes well for the native population. One is usually more advanced than the other, and it becomes a massacre."

Mara turned to face Shiro once again. "But if these lions can form this "Voltron", it sounds like we might have a chance to level the playing field with the Galra. We can prevent them from even getting to Earth in the first place..." Shiro slowly nodded, taking in all of Mara's words. He realized that she was very smart to see that this was a highly unusual situation for them to all be in, but that they were presented with an opportunity to help. Add to that the fact that she drew from past instances of history to further her point, it all really did make Shiro think harder about what they should do.

The doors soon hissed open and Allura walked out, changed into some kind of battle suit. "You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope." Everyone listened closely to Allura's speech. After a few moments, their looks of worry were replaced with looks of determination. Shiro spoke for them all as they nodded. "We're with you, Princess."

Allura smiled, happy with the decision. The tension in the room decreased almost immediately. Mara then raised her hand. "So, what's next?"

.⋆✦⋆.

"Follow me." Allura said, as she began to walk out of the room. Shiro was first to follow her, followed by Mara, Keith, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk. They walked around the halls of the castle for a few minutes, before they entered another massive room. Along the back of the room were six capsules, each containing a special battle suit and helmet that matched with each of their Lion colors. "Your suits of armor." Allura motioned towards the capsules. Everyone then began to walk over to their corresponding capsule and gaze upon their armor, each letting out their own remark.

"Cool!" said Lance.

"Outstanding." said Shiro.

"Nice." said Keith.

"Sleek yet elegant." said Mara.

"Oh, neat!" said Pidge.

"Hmm..." said Hunk.

After a few moments of looking over and admiring their armor, Shiro spoke up. "It's time to suit up!"

Mara placed her hand on the front of the capsule, and it began to open. She was greeted with her own set of white paladin armor. She moved quickly yet carefully to put her own armor on. This was not like any of the armor she had seen before, this kind seemed lightweight yet sturdy and was easy to move in. It was quite the different from medieval knights who wore clunky chain armor and could hardly move. As she placed the chest plate of her armor, Mara noticed a detail on that was different than the others: There was a six-pointed star in the middle.

Allura ended up coming by her to help her put on the remaining pieces of her armor, as the others had already finished suiting up. "What does this star mean?" Mara asked, as she pointed at the symbol on her chest plate. "It signifies that you are the center of Voltron. All of the other lions must connect with yours in order to form Voltron."

Mara slowly nodded at Allura's words as they sunk in, while she absentmindedly began fiddling around with her hair. She was once again feeling the gravity of the situation, like how she had been feeling when she went to go find her Lion. Mara closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She needed to believe in herself more. Allura noticed the anxiety Mara was showing with her fiddling fingers, and decided to help her with her hair. Mara's eyes slowly opened in surprise as she felt Allura pulling her hair back and into a high-ponytail. "You're going to want your hair out of your face." she said gently, Mara nodded. Allura then placed both of her hands on Mara's shoulders. "You'll be great, I know it."

And with a pat on the back, Allura started to walk away and call for the Paladins to follow her to the front of the room. Allura placed her hand on the center of a table and in a small flash of light, five triangle shaped objects appeared.

"The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each paladin." The bayards then levitated off of the table and moved towards their respective Paladins.

Hunk reached out for the yellow bayard, and as soon as it was in his hands, it turned into a massive gun. Hunk grunted and struggled with the weight for a moment, before he got a solid grip on the weapon. He then let out an impressed grunt.

Keith was next to reach out for the red bayard, and as soon as it was in his hands, it turned into a sword. On Keith's other hand, a shield appeared. To Mara, it reminded her of the knights in medieval times.

Lance reached out for the blue bayard next, and as soon as it was in his hands, it turned into a slim rifle. Lance whooped with joy and began taking practice aim around the room.

Mara reached out for the white bayard next, and as soon as it was in her hands, it turned into a sleek staff. She twirled it around with her hand for a moment, before slamming it on the ground. She really felt like a warrior in that moment.

Pidge was the last to reach out for the green bayard, and as soon as it was in his hands, it turned into an arrow-shaped blade. Pidge tested it out by slicing the open air in front of him, and smiled with approval. Lance looked over at Pidge's bayard and smiled. "Aw, you got a cute little bayard." Pidge shot Lance a glare and proceeded to jab him with his bayard. Lance was immediately greeted with an electric shock, as he screamed and fell onto the ground. Pidge looked at his bayard in triumph. "Yeah, it is pretty cute."

Everyone then looked towards Shiro, who noticeably did not have a bayard. "Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin." she said as a frown appeared on her face. Shiro shrugged his shoulders and gave Allura a soft smile. "I guess I'll just have to make do." With their new armor and weapons, Allura guided the group back to the main control room of the ship. She then pulled up the diagrams and diagnostics of the Galra ship. "You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship."

Keith looked at the diagram and titled his head to the side in thought. "That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Pidge turned to Keith and smiled. Well it's not a matter of "we." It's a matter of "you." Hunk nodded his head in agreement. "Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and like track it down."

Lance was next to re-assure Keith. "Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Keith frowned. "Yeah. You made fun of me for that." Lance shrugged his shoulders before he replied. "And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo."

Allura then turned to directly look at Keith. "Remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect." Keith gave her a determined nod, right as Mara placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I know you can do it, Keith." she whispered into his ear. Keith smiled back at Mara, and the entire group then turned to face Shiro. "All right. Here's our plan of attack...The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green Lion or the White Lion too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up."

Shiro took a minute to pause and look around the room to glance at everyone's faces. He saw many things in each person's facial expression, the most standing out to him being a mix of nervousness and determination. He knew that his friends didn't ask for any of this to happen or to be part of it, but now that they had been presented with the stakes not just for themselves but for the entire universe, they knew that they had to stay and fight. Everyone looked to Shiro after the pause. He cleared his throat and then continued his plan. "While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Mara, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge and Mara guard our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon."

.⋆✦⋆.

Lance's voice soon came over the communication channel. "Pidge, what's your ETA?"

"We're in." Pidge said as the group began walking around the massive alien ship. Keith was leading the way, followed by Mara, Shiro and Pidge. The hallways of the Galra ship were tinted with purple light and had many halls to navigate. In some ways, it was just like the Altean castle they were in just a few hours ago. As Keith turned down another hallway, Mara heard Shiro grunt stumble for a few steps. When she turned around, she saw Shiro frozen in place staring down the other side of the hallway. Pidge had a look of concern on his face as Mara tapped Keith on the shoulder for him to turn around. "Shiro? Are you alright?" Mara called out. Shiro shook his head. "I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here."

"So, that means your other crewmembers, they might be held captive here. We... We've got to rescue them." Pidge said, with urgency in his voice. Shiro closed his eyes and sighed. "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus." Pidge frowned, clearly not happy with Shiro's answer. He thought that Shiro would have wanted to get his fellow crewmembers back just as much as he did! "But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge angrily yelled.

Shiro glanced between Pidge, Mara, and Keith. "Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." He said, as he began to lead the way down the hallway, this time with Keith and Mara following his lead.

Pidge remained still, fists clenched with anger. His voice suddenly rang out. "No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you."

Mara stared wide eyed at Pidge. "Wait, what?" Shiro seemed to almost mimic Mara's look of shock as he spoke. "Commander Holt is your father?" Pidge nodded fiercely. "Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!" Pidge then turned to start moving in the opposite direction with a determined look on his face.

Shiro quickly grabbed Pidge's shoulder before he moved too far. Pidge turned and looked up at him. "I'm coming with you." Shiro declared. Keith frowned as he looked at Shiro. "What?"

Shiro gave a quick glance to Keith before he nodded in confirmation. "I remember where the prisoners are held."

Mara glanced at Keith before she took a step towards Shiro. "Are you sure about this?" Mara questioned. Right away, Mara could feel an angry glare being directed her way from Pidge. Mara knew that Pidge was desperate to find her family, but right now they were on the enemy ship to find the Red Lion. Looking for prisoners could prove to be a horrible distraction that they couldn't afford at the time. Shiro looked at Mara and gave her a firm nod, and Mara sighed. She then took a step back. "Keith, you go find the Red Lion. Mara, you stick with me and Pidge."

Mara's eyes widened and Keith visibly tensed up. "By myself? Are you sure?" Keith asked, with doubt in his voice. Shiro gave a small smile to Keith. "Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus." Mara shook her head. "No, I'll go with Keith. He was there for me when I got my Lion, I'm not letting him go alone." Before Shiro could object, one of the doors at the end of the hallway opened, revealing some sentries. Shiro turned to Keith and said only one word. "Run!"

As the three parted ways, Mara was still standing in the middle of the hallway, unable to decide who she should go with. Mara desperately looked for Keith, spotting him at the edge of the hallway just as he turned the corner. All of a sudden she felt herself being yanked from the hallway, just in time to avoid being hit by a laser blast from one of the sentries. She then found herself running with Pidge, who still had a firm grip on her forearm. Pidge looked back and locked eyes with Mara, who gave him a quick nod in thanks. Pidge then released his grip on her and the pair caught up to Shiro.

As the trio turned a corner in one of the hallways, a floating triangle robot appeared in front of them. They stopped right in their tracks as the robot seemed to start scanning them. With some quick thinking, Pidge fired an electric shock at the robot using his bayard.

"Wait, what was that?" Mara said, as she looked over Pidge's shoulder at the tiny robot. Pidge meanwhile was fiddling with the circuits of the robot, with a determined smile on his face. Shiro also leaned over Pidge's shoulder to see what he was doing. "That thing saw us. We should get out of here." Shiro spoke up, as he glanced around the hallway for any other sentries or levitating robots.

Pidge shushed him for a moment as he continued to work. "Wait. I think this might come in handy. Now, I'll just reset the controls... and it's working for us. I'm going to call you 'Rover'. Follow me!" Pidge said happily, as Shiro began to lead them down another hallway. Mara found herself staring at the tiny robot, which now had glowing white markings across its surface instead of the red markings it had moments ago when it was still under Galra control. "Pidge must be quite the technological expert." Mara thought to herself.

.⋆✦⋆.

Eventually after a few more turns down more hallways, they could see in the distance a large steel door. "The holding cells should be right around here..." Shiro thought out loud, as they eventually stopped in front of the door. Mara and Shiro placed their hands on the metal to try and find a way to get inside, as it appeared to be locked. Pidge gave them a sly smile, before turning to the robot at his side. "Open up." The robot moved forward and shot forward a beam that seemed to work as a key to open the door.

Mara let out a small laugh as Shiro smiled at Pidge. "Excellent work, Pidge!"

Pidge was the first to run inside of the room. "Dad?" he called out, desperately. What they ended up seeing before them was a group of various aliens, huddled together with looks of fear on their faces. Pidge frowned when he didn't see his father among the group. Mara could feel the sadness and disappointment from Pidge. Shiro then took a step forward towards the aliens. "Don't be afraid. We're here to help you escape."

One of the alien prisoners looked up to Shiro's face, and his eyes lit up with recognition. "It's you... It's you, the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can." All of the prisoners then looked towards Shiro with awe on all of their faces.

Pidge and Mara looked to Shiro, who had a look of confusion on his face. "Wh... What did you call me?"

"The Champion?" Mara asked out loud, and a few of the aliens nodded. Pidge sighed as he began to walk out of the room. "We don't have much time! Come on!" Shiro yelled, as the prisoners began to run out of the room and follow Pidge towards the escape pods. Mara made sure each of them were out before she shared a nod with Shiro and began to run to catch up with the group.

Shiro re-took the lead from Pidge, as they made their way down more of the hallways. Shiro seemed confident with the way he was taking them all, and Mara trusted his instincts. Soon enough, they came to a massive open area where they saw the doors of an escape pod wide open. "Hurry!" Pidge yelled, as he motioned over to the pod.

Suddenly, a deep voice boomed within the room. "Halt!"

Pidge gasped as he turned and saw four sentries running towards them, with their guns loaded and ready to fire at them. The prisoners continued to run into the escape pod as Mara backed up and got into a defensive position. "Looks like we might need to fight our way around these guys." Mara said, as she activated her bayard. Pidge nodded and did the same, as they prepared to face off against the sentries. Oddly enough, Shiro's prosthetic arm began to light up with a purple glow as he groaned and slumped to his knees.

Pidge was right away at Shiro's side. "Shiro, what's wrong?"

Mara moved to stand in front of the two, with her staff extended in front of her as a warning to the sentries. "Don't come any closer!" she yelled, as she was preparing herself to strike. She knew her bayard weapon wasn't as practical as Lance's or Keith's, but she was determined to protect her friends.

All of a sudden, Shiro sprinted in front of Mara and began to single handedly take down all of the sentries. He absorbed their weapon's fire and then sliced through two of the sentries, before he turned around and gave a massive punch through the other two. Pidge and Mara could only look on in awe at the scene in front of them. "Whoa..."

The trio then turned to face the escape pod, which was slowly starting to move away from the loading dock. The aliens inside smiled at them as the doors began to close. "Thank you, Shiro."

Shiro frowned and began to reach towards them with his arm. "Wait! How do you...?" Shiro tried to call out, but the escape pod had already blasted into space. Pidge turned to face Shiro and gave him a huge pat on the back. "Shiro, that was amazing! Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Shiro looked down at his prosthetic arm. "I have no idea." Mara then de-activated her bayard and placed her hands on her hips. "You mean they didn't teach that kind of self-defense at the Garrison?" Pidge laughed and Shiro rubbed the back of his head. The trio then began to run back towards the Green Lion. Pidge slid into the pilot seat with Mara and Shiro on opposite sides of her. "Let's go!"

"You guys made it!" Hunk cheered over the communication channel. Pidge nodded. "Kitty Rose has left the stage!" Mara squinted her eyes as she looked forward through Pidge's monitor. "Looks like we got the red lion!" she yelled, with a smile on her face. "You got that right!" Keith yelled back to her. Lance then let out a small groan. "Good, good now let's get the heck out of here!" As they began to fly back to Arus, Hunk took a glance back at the Galra ship. "I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it..."

.⋆✦⋆.

When they arrived back at the castle, Allura instructed everyone to pilot their lions to the center of the hangar. Mara and Shiro exited the Green Lion and went over to congratulate Keith on getting the Red Lion. Keith admitted he struggled a bit at first, but when push came to shove, the Red Lion was there for him. Shiro re-assured Keith that he knew he would be able to gain his Lion's acceptance, to which Mara quickly agreed. Coran then came down to the hangar and told everyone to come back up to the main control room. However Shiro was told to stay behind with the lions in the hangar as they would be attempting to unlock the black lion within the castle.

Back in the main control room, Allura was busy typing away on the monitors. She quickly brought up a monitor in the hangar so the paladins were able to see what was going on. Shiro was standing in-between all of the five lions as they towered over him. As everything began to lock into place, Allura watched the monitor in front of her closely, clasping her hands together hoping everything would work out. Slowly, the eyes of all of the lions began to glow, and a massive door began to slowly open on the other side of the room. Everyone's eyes widened in anticipation as it was slowly revealed to be holding the Black Lion. It let out a massive roar, which then made the other five lions to let out a roar in response. Shiro smiled and started walking towards the Black Lion, while everyone else in the main control room cheered for their success.

But the happy moment wouldn't last very long. Lights flashed red and alarms began to blare all around the ship. Coran and Allura looked quickly towards the monitors. "Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" The paladins quickly nodded and ran back towards the hangar. They each ran over to their respective lions and prepared for take-off.

The black lion let out another massive roar and began to leave the hangar, with the others quickly following behind it. "All right, let's go team!" Shiro yelled, as they all came out of the top of the castle, and landed on the ground in front of the main doors, just where the particle barrier stopped. This was it, the big battle on planet Arus.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Chapter 5 is here! Originally, I was going to have Mara accompany Keith to get the Red Lion (since Keith went with her to get her Lion), but then I felt like it would ruin the moment for Keith. Also, I know I have emphasized in previous chapters that Mara does not have the same military training as the rest of the Paladins, but that does not mean she is completely unskilled or defenseless. There is a reason why her bayard is a staff, and we will see her using it in action in the next couple of chapters.**

 **I finished watching season 7 the other night… I really enjoyed it. Beautiful animation, amazing music, GREAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. While I can see why some people did not like the season, I don't agree with why they are so upset. But that's just my opinion. But I'm looking forward to (and slightly dreading) season 8. I don't think I'm ready for this show to end… But who knows, maybe they will get a movie? It happened for the OG Teen Titans after their show was canceled….**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A mass of Galra fighter ships were deployed and began to fire at the particle barrier. Suddenly a low humming sound was heard, as a massive purple beam shot out from the ion cannon on the Galra ship. The beam directly hit the particle barrier, setting it aflame on the outside and violently shaking the ground.

Everyone let out an audible groan as they tried to withstand the blast. When it subsided, Hunk zoomed in on the Galra ship and frowned. "Man, those Galra guys repair things fast." Coran's voice was the next thing to greet them over the communication channel. "The barrier gets weaker with every blast. Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless!" Allura gritted her teeth and began typing on the controls again. "I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!" The low humming sound was heard again, as another massive purple beam shot out from the ion cannon on the Galra ship. In a matter of seconds, the beam hit the particle barrier again, but this time they saw that it was beginning to weaken, as the energy around it began to crackle. "Copy that, Allura." Lance said with a groan.

"Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?" Shiro's voice boomed over the communication channel. Everyone listened carefully to his words and let them sink into their minds. They all silently nodded, agreeing with Shiro's statement. Hunk's voice then came over the communication channel. "I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?" Everyone rolled their eyes at Hunk's question. "Yes!" The all replied with a groan. Shiro then nodded his head and moved his controls forward. "Let's do this!"

All of the lions began to race forward as the exited the particle barrier. A few Galra fighter ships were waiting for them just outside, and began to fire on them. The lions keep moving in tight formation and were able to dodge the blasts. But they knew that they wouldn't be able to keep running and dodging for long. "Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?" Shiro yelled over the communication channel.

Hunk shook his head. "I don't see a "combine into giant robot" button anywhere on my dashboard." The lions continued to move forward and dodge blasts from the fighters. Pidge was beginning to get frustrated with the situation. "This is insane! Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?" Mara adjusted her grip on her controls and accelerated herself forward. "We don't have time!" Keith stopped his lion in its tracks as he saw the green lion take out two of the fighters. "We've got to do something..." All of a sudden, the yellow lion came slamming into the red lion. "Combine!" Hunk yelled, as the red lion was sent flying and landed with a loud crash. Keith groaned and shot a menacing glare at Hunk. "Hey!" Hunk shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, that didn't work."

Allura's face then popped up on each of the lion's side monitors. "Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" Her image then began to fade in and out as the castle was hit with more blasts with each passing minute. Allura let out a groan as she tried to keep herself steady at the controls. Her face then disappeared from the side-monitor. "Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine. Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!" Shiro yelled, as the lions all ran to the edge of a cliff, and then proceeded to fly off into the sky above. "Here we go!" Keith yelled.

"Come on, come on!" Lance chanted. As they continued to fly higher into the skies, Shiro let out a grunt. "Nothing's happening!" He yelled, as he looked between all of the lions. Lance began to speak on the communication channel. "Hey, wait, wait, wait! I feel something!" Hunk nodded his head and pipped in. "I do, too. I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!" Shiro looked up towards the Galra ship and frowned. "Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up."

"What the cheese?" Lance exclaimed, as he saw his lion and the others surrounded by a red glowing light. "Sendak's ship is sucking us in! It's like a tractor beam!" Pidge yelled. They all tried to move their controls, but it was as if the lions were paralyzed from the tractor beam. Now that they were getting closer to the Galra ship, the low humming sound turned into a loud, thundering sound as it began to charge up once again. Another massive purple beam shot out from the ion cannon on the Galra ship. Once again in a matter of seconds, the beam hit the particle barrier, causing it to finally collapse. The castle violently shook and Mara turned immediately to her side-monitor. "The particle barrier is gone!" Shiro looked over at his own side-monitor. "Oh, no!" Hunk's voice was then heard screaming over the communication channel. "I-I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!" The lions continued to be sucked up towards the Galra ship, and the paladin's struggling grunts could be heard all across the communication channel.

"It can't end here! Pidge yelled.

"We can't lose to these guys!" Mara shouted.

"This is it!" Lance screeched.

"Oh, no!" Hunk shouted with fear in his voice.

Keith gritted his teeth. "It's been an honor flying with you all."

Among all of the yelling and chaos, the paladins looked forward and saw that the ion cannon was charging itself up again. Mara's eyes widened as she scrambled to open up the communications channel to the castle. "Princess, Coran, you need to get out of there!" she yelled, hoping that her message was received in time. They couldn't die now, not when they had just woken up from a 10,000 year sleep! They were the last Alteans in the entire universe!

But instead of hearing the Princess' voice, another voice came over the communication channel, full of determination. "No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!" Mara realized it was Shiro yelling and rallying them together again. She had to admit, the black lion suited him very well, as he was the natural leader of the group. With one more look back at the castle on her monitor, Mara felt more determined than she did before. Everyone then nodded simultaneously. "Yeah!" All of the lions let out a massive roar and began to glow as they shot out of the tractor beam's path. At that point, it felt like the Lions were piloting themselves. Mara closed her eyes as she heard the arms and legs of her Lion fold in on itself, becoming open slots for the other lions to attach themselves as arms and legs of the massive robot. The black lion was last to attach itself on, forming the head of it all. And with one, swift movement, the Red Lion slammed into the side of the ship, causing the blast from the ion cannon to miss the castle completely. A large mass of smoke surrounded and revealed Voltron to everyone, standing firmly and confident on the Galra ship.

"I can't believe it!" Keith yelled.

"We formed Voltron!" Pidge cheered.

"I'm a leg!" Hunk exclaimed.

"We're all connected!" Mara shouted.

"How are we doing this?" Lance yelled. Shiro let out a small laugh. "I don't know, but let's get that cannon!" Using the Red and Green lions, Voltron began to grip and rip the ion cannon off of the Galra ship. When it was free, they tossed it behind them where it landed on the ground in a thunderous crash. The Red Lion then punched into the gaping hole in the ship and began to fire up its primary weapon. There was a blast and a flash of light, as the section of the ship exploded. But they were just getting started! Voltron keep moving up more sections of the ship, alternating between using the Red and Green lions to punch through and open fire inside of the ship. With each blast, the Galra ship was becoming more and more unstable.

Voltron flew up into the air and flipped, before diving and charging forward to deliver the final blow. Everyone was yelling with fury in their voices simultaneously the closer they got. They ended up blasting straight through the center of the ship, coming out on the other side and flying away as more explosions began to occur all over the ship. And just as Voltron landed, there was one more massive explosion, and the Galra ship was completely destroyed behind them.

Satisfied with winning the battle, Voltron began to fly back towards the castle and de-assembled itself along the way, forming six separate lions once again. It was an amazing feeling for Mara, it was almost like she felt the energies of all of the lions when they came together, and then became full of adrenaline when they began to attack the Galra ship as Voltron. It was not like anything she had ever experienced back on Earth. She felt powerful, protected, and among friends.

When they all landed their lions outside of the castle, Coran and Allura were right at the doors to greet them all. "Good work, Paladins!" she praised them, with a massive smile on her face.

Everyone gave a nod of thanks as they were all still hunched over trying to catch their breath and come down from the adrenaline rush. Lance recovered first and flashed a smile at Allura. "Thanks, pretty lady."

Keith took off his helmet and shook his head to ruffle his hair. Shiro smiled and looked over at him. "We did it." Keith nodded, and gave Shiro a high-five. "Heck yeah, we did."

Shiro looked back towards the lions. "How did we do it?" Mara took off her helmet and placed it under her arm. "I still have no idea." Hunk was next to take off his helmet, which he had a little bit of difficulty doing. "I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it." Pidge placed his glasses back on his face with a frown and let out a sigh. Mara thought back to when they were on the Galra ship earlier and they had gotten the revelation that Pidge's brother and father were taken along with Shiro on the Kerberos mission, and how he had been desperately searching for them. She knew it had to have been hard for Pidge to try and free the prisoners, only to not find her brother or father on that ship. Just when Mara was about to walk over to Pidge, she saw Shiro place a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you." Pidge stared up at Shiro, and his frown turned into a soft smile. Allura then took a few steps closer to the group, and looked downward. "We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions." Allura then looked up and turned to Coran, who took over speaking. "Good thing you paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."

Everyone's face quickly dropped from hearing Coran's words. "Wait, what?" Hunk moaned. "We barely survived forming Voltron this one time." Lance pouted. Coran let out a sigh and then took a step forward, gesturing at them with his arms. "And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe." He then settled back to standing with Allura, who continued to smile at the paladins. Everyone's eyes widened at the title that Coran had given them, before they all shared a glance with each other and smiled softly. They turned around to face the lions, just as Shiro spoke up. "Defenders of the Universe, huh? That's got a nice ring to it."

After a few minutes, the group began to walk back inside of the castle. They went back to the armory room and took off their armor before placing it back in its respective capsule. Allura then motioned for them to follow her, while Coran walked off to another part of the ship. "I'm sure you all must be very tired after the events of today. Let me show you to your sleeping chambers." Hunk smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Sleep sounds awesome right about now!"

They continued to walk along the hallways of the castle, until Allura brought them to the section of the castle where everyone's rooms would be. They were all in the same hallway, arranged in a zig-zag like pattern. Allura then told them that her room was just around the left of the hallway, and Coran's room was just around the right of the hallway. They all gave her their thanks and she smiled. "If there is anything else you may need, please let me know."

Lance tilted his head to the side, thinking. "Maybe some pajamas?" Allura gave him a confused look. "What?" Mara let out a small laugh, and leaned over to whisper into Allura's ear. "He means sleeping clothes." Allura blinked for a second before she realized what Lance had meant, and gave him a smile. "Oh, right! Follow me, I know just the thing!"

Before they knew it, they were back in the same area of the ship as the armory, but they were instead brought into a small room that had a massive looking machine in front of them. Allura stepped towards the machine as a control panel raised up from the ground, as she began to type on it. Pidge was literally at her side in a second, wondering what exactly the machine's purpose was. "This machine can create whatever kind of clothing you may need. It also can generate pieces of your armor, should anything happen to it." Pidge titled his head, and started to poke the side of the machine. "How does it work?" The machine then let out a beeping noise, as Pidge quickly retracted his hand. Allura let out a small laugh before she motioned the others to come closer. "Allow me. First, you use the pad and stylus to draw out what you want..." Allura began to draw out a simple design of a long-sleeved shirt and pants. "Then you can choose what material and color you want..." She then took a quick glance over at Hunk, and smiled as she looked back down at the pad, deciding on the color yellow for the clothes. "Hit the enter button and..." The machine beeped before it roared to life and sputtered for a second, causing the paladins to jump back for a moment. "I apologize. It's been offline for over 10,000 years."

They all nodded in understanding, and within a few moments, the machine made one final beep and then a capsule opened, revealing the yellow long-sleeved shirt and pants that Allura had designed on the pad. Hunk went over to the capsule and lifted the clothes out. "These are perfect!" he said, with a big smile on his face. Allura smiled gestured for the next person to step up to the machine. Lance was next, as he went a little over the top with his designing, giving himself a long-sleeved blue shirt and pants, with a light blue robe and slippers. He seemed to be very proud of his creation when he picked it up and out of the capsule. Keith was the next to go up to the machine, as Lance then turned to face Pidge. "Hey Pidge, could I borrow your headphones?" he asked gently. Pidge took his backpack off his shoulders, opened up the zipper and began to search around the headphones. Pidge ended up pulling out a large set of headphones, which Lance quickly grabbed out of his hands and cradled to his chest. Pidge let out a sigh. "Just don't break them!" Lance gave her a quick nod before he and Hunk ran down out of the room and back towards the sleeping area. Keith was just picking up his clothes from the capsule when Mara stepped up to the machine. She wanted something that was simple and comfy, a tank top and long pants, just like what she would wear back on Earth. She decided on making the tank top purple and the long pants black.

When Mara took the clothes out of the capsule, Allura looked over and gave her a small look of concern. "Mara, will those keep you warm enough?" she asked, gesturing towards the purple tank top. Mara turned and held out the tank top in front of her. "Hm? Oh I'll be fine, this is what I usually wear to sleep." She said, giving Allura a re-assuring look. Come to think of it, Mara realized that most of the time she had seen Allura wearing outfits that were completely long-sleeved and covered everything up to her neck. Allura began speaking again, which took her out of her train of thought. "Alright... If you need something a bit warmer, let me know and you can borrow one of my sleeping gowns." Mara smiled at Allura. "That's very kind of you, Princess."

Right away, Allura quickly took her hand. "Please, call me Allura. There is no need for titles among friends." Mara looked down at their hands, and before she knew what she was doing, she began to shake Allura's hand. The gesture seemed somewhat familiar to Allura, even if she did look down for a moment with a confused expression on her face. Out of the corner of her eye, Mara could see Keith nodding his head as he watched the scene unfold.

They all then waited for Shiro and Pidge to finish using the machine, before they all started to walk back towards the sleeping area together. As they passed Hunk's room, they could hear him already loudly snoring. "I wish there was a machine that made earplugs..." Keith mumbled, causing Mara and Shiro to let out a small laugh. Next they passed Lance's room, where they could just barely hear the melody of a song from the headphones he had on. Mara turned to Pidge. "That was really nice of you to let him borrow your headphones." she said softly. Pidge looked at Mara and shrugged his shoulders. "He loves to listen to music. I figured it probably helps him sleep too." Mara nodded and they all continued walking forward. Allura eventually stopped at the end of the hallway and turned towards them. "Enjoy your rest, Paladins."

Mara frowned, and called out just before Allura began to walk away. "Are you going to sleep soon as well?" Allura turned around and smiled at Mara. "Coran and I need to update and check on a few more systems for the castle, but then we will take a rest." Mara slowly nodded, and placed her hand on Allura's shoulder. "Alright, but please don't strain yourselves."

Allura smiled at Mara's gesture, before she began to walk towards her own room. By the time Mara had turned around, Pidge was already gone and in his own room. Mara thought back to the Galra ship, how she questioned Pidge's quest to go look for his family and made him upset. Yet later on, Pidge still went back and saved her from being hit by a laser blast. Mara stopped and stood in front of Pidge's door. She hesitated for a moment before she knocked on the door three times. "Come in!" Pidge called out. The door opened and Mara found herself inside of Pidge's room. He had already been pretty busy, as his stuff was already lying around in various places in the room. Pidge however, was currently sitting on his bed, typing away on his laptop. Mara stood by the door for a few minutes, wondering how she should break the ice. "So… What are you working on?" Mara questioned, as she slowly walked over to the bed. Pidge looked up from his laptop with a blank look on his face. "Oh, something you probably wouldn't understand." Pidge replied smugly, as he returned to typing on the laptop. Mara shrugged. "You're probably right, I'm not the best with computers…."

Neither of them said a word for a few minutes, as the only sound that could be heard in the room was Pidge's typing. Mara looked around the room for a minute before she cleared her throat to get Pidge's attention. "I wanted to say… Thank you."

"For what?" Pidge questioned, still looking at his computer screen. "You know, for pulling me out of the way of the laser blast back on the Galra ship?" Pidge let out a scoff and rolled his eyes at her response. "Well yeah, you were just standing around in the middle of the hallway like an idiot."

Mara let out a sigh, and slowly nodded. "I know, I was stupid and couldn't make a simple decision." Mara admitted. She saw Pidge quickly nod as he continued to type on the laptop. Mara took another glance around the room, when her eyes settled on the nightstand. There was the picture from earlier, the one of Pidge and…. His sister? Or did Hunk mention that she was his girlfriend? Either way, the photo was clearly important to Pidge as he was keeping it close to him. Mara then turned to face Pidge again. "But I also wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Pidge raised his eyebrow at hearing that, with a confused expression on his face. "Now for what?" He asked, as Mara let out another sigh. "Questioning if looking for your family was the right thing to do." Mara admitted, as Pidge hit the last keyboard key rough and loudly before he stopped typing altogether. Silence then fell in the room as Pidge looked up from his laptop, and closed it shut. He stared intently at Mara, who decided to continue to speak. "It was wrong for me to say that. Of course I would do anything for my family if I had lost them… But I was so caught up in the moment with getting the Red Lion and forming Voltron…. That I didn't consider how you felt."

Pidge cast his gaze downward, as he seemed to be thinking back to that moment on the Galra ship. How after hearing Mara's words, he was filled with surprise and resentment, and then glared at her for a few minutes in anger. Mara quickly turned away from Pidge and stared at the wall. "I can't even imagine how you must feel right now…." Out of the corner of her eye, Mara could see Pidge tense up. "You're right, you can't imagine it." He spoke flatly, as he glanced towards the photo on his nightstand. With some hesitation, Mara placed her hand on Pidge's shoulder. "We will find your brother, and your father. No matter what." Mara declared, as she waited to see what Pidge would either say or do in response. Pidge turned to face her and looked at her directly in the eye. To Mara, it felt like he was searching through her thoughts and feelings to see if she was being genuine, which she was, about what she had just said. Pidge blinked before he looked down again. Mara frowned, thinking that he doubted her sentiment. She got up from the bed and began to walk back towards the door. "Thank you." Pidge whispered. Mara stopped in her tracks, even as the door opened in front of her. She turned around and gave Pidge a small smile. Pidge smiled back at her, as he picked up the photo from his nightstand. "Don't stay up too late, Pidge." Mara whispered back, as she slowly walked out the door and back into the hallway. Before the door closed, she could have sworn she could have heard Pidge whisper, "Thanks, mom."

Mara let out a small laugh as she then began to walk down the hall to her own room. She soon passed Shiro and Keith, who were quietly talking to each other. Mara wondered if they had seen her enter Pidge's room, or if they had heard what she said to Pidge while she was in there. The two glanced at Pidge's door and then to her, and gave her a quick nod. Mara nodded in return and gave them a small smile, before she continued walking down the hallway. Mara then entered her room. It was a good size, not too big and not too small. She was mainly just glad to have a space of her own. Back at the shack on Earth, she and Keith were practically living on top of each other because the shack was so small. She placed her bayard on the nightstand next to her bed and began to change her clothes. When she was finished, she laid down on her bed and spread out her arms and legs. It had been a long and tiring day, but it was also full of excitement. Mara felt her eyelids growing heavy, as she slowly allowed herself to fall asleep.

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 **A/N: SURPRISE, A NEW CHAPTER! I mentioned in a previous A/N about tweaking the update schedule for this fic. As of this week, there will be one chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That's a grand total of three chapters every week!**

 **It was fun to go a little off script and write about what the Paladins did after their first battle. I totally made up the clothing machine and think it could be a fun concept for the characters to use. I mean, HOW ELSE did Lance get those blue lion slippers? Or those pajamas? MAGIC?**

 **Plus it's fun to think up technology that the Alteans might have used in the past. The clothing machine is just one of the more fun ideas I've had. I might come up with a few more Altean technologies as the story progresses.**

 **AND we've finally finished the first episode of Voltron! Well, I consider it to be the first episode (Google disagrees however, saying it was actually three episodes in one) ANYWAY the next chapter will be getting into the events of Some Assembly Required.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Mara found herself slowly waking up the next morning with a long yawn as she stretched out her arms and legs. While waiting for her eyes to adjust she took a glance around the room she was in. Everything was so white and pristine looking… It was a far cry from the little shack that she and Keith had been staying in for the past few months.

Mara took a deep breath as she felt all of the previous day's events come back into her mind. At the moment, she was inside an alien castle, on an alien planet, in outer space. Oh, and she was chosen to pilot a white lion that is part of a giant robot named Voltron, in order to help defend the entire universe. She could feel the nerves inching their way closer and closer, so she quickly decided that now would be the perfect time to meditate. Mara had found that meditation was the easiest and best way for her to relax her nerves as well as her thoughts when it came to stress or anger or even panic. Although yesterday it was hearing Suroa's passionate speech and faith in her that she was able to calm her nerves, something which did not happen that often.

Mara started to take slow, smooth breaths as she closed her eyes. Suddenly, she could have sworn she heard the roar of a lion in the distance. Her eyes flew open and she shook her head a few times, wondering if she was hallucinating what she had just heard. Was it possible that she connecting with her lion? Mara thought back to Allura's words from yesterday about the characteristics about the white lion, how it embodies balance, unity, and focus. Maybe the way to bonding with the white lion would be through meditation?

Casting the thought aside, Mara continued to meditate for a few more minutes before the lights flashed in her room and a loud alarm began to go off. She scrambled off the floor and looked around the room, quickly changing out of her pajamas. Just as she was about to leave the room, she ran back inside and grabbed her bayard. She just had a feeling that if they were in danger, she would want to have her handy staff with her. As she ran down the hallways, she could hear Allura's voice over the loudspeaker. "Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking!"

Mara continued to run faster down the hallway, until she stopped dead in her tracks. "Which hallway do I take to get to the control room again?" she asked herself out loud. She looked from side to side, trying to see if anything looked familiar to her…. But the hallways all looked the same. Mara let out a groan, a hung her head low. "The Castle's about to be destroyed!" Allura's voice boomed once again over the loudspeaker. Mara's head shot up, and she quickly decided to go through the hallway on her left. "Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can't survive much longer!"

Mara raced into the control room, only to find everyone there (minus Lance) just standing around Allura and Coran as they yelled over the loudspeaker. Mara titled her head in confusion before she walked over to stand next to Keith to try and catch her breath. Keith looked down at her and snickered. "Bet you haven't had to run like that since high school." Keith whispered to Mara. She slowly turned her head towards Keith and shot him a death glare, and his sly smile disappeared right off his face.

Shiro looked around the room with a frown on his face. "I guess this isn't an actual attack." Allura gave him a firm nod. "And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you... Coran?" In a split second Coran quickly grabbed a small device out of his pocket, and held it right up to his eyes for a reading. "Seventy-five degrees!" He proclaimed, as everyone gave him a confused look. Coran noticed this and looked back down at the device, before his eyes widened. "Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer." He said shyly, as he then placed the device back into his pocket. Allura cleared her throat to continue. "However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. And Mara only has her bayard. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are yours? And where is Lance?" As if on cue, the doors of the control room opened, and Lance walked leisurely into the room. He then let out a slow yawn. "Good morning, everybody. What's going on?"

Mara rolled her eyes at Lance's entrance, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keith mimicking her actions. Hunk and Pidge however, did not seem surprised at all by his tardiness. "Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed." Hunk lifted up his hands in defense. "Hey! You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I-I don't know…" Hunk turned to face Coran. "What day is today?"

"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!" Coran exclaimed with a big smile on his face. Mara tilted her head to the side in confusion. Keith noticed this and leaned over to whisper into her ear. "So is it space Wednesday or something?" Upon hearing this, Mara let out a laugh, which quickly brought questioning glares from Coran and Allura. Mara felt her face heating up and quickly cleared her throat before she turned to Allura. "Please, continue."

"You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations. So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe. Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable." Mara looked at the expanding color that represented the Galra Empire. She felt a chill go down her spine as she looked at where the Earth was positioned, a little too close for comfort. "It's only a matter of time..." Allura placed a hand on Mara's shoulder, and gave her a firm nod before motioning back to the hologram map. "Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon."

"The Princess is right. Let's get to our lions and start training."

Everyone nodded and began to leave the room, except for Pidge, who stood in place. "Wait! I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

Coran patted Pidge on the head. "Ah, negative, Number six! I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow." Mara saw Pidge begin to pout, and could only imagine how frustrated he must have felt in that moment. She quickly sent Pidge a sympathetic glance.

Allura gave Pidge a firm nod. "That's right. Now, get to your lions."

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara had finished suiting up in her armor and was seated in the pilot seat of the White Lion. She then took off into the air and came out of the hangar of the castle ship to join the other Paladins. On her way over, she saw that Keith and Shiro were already in their lions waiting in the courtyard. Mara flew her Lion over to the pair and slowly began to land. She took her time because she didn't want to look like a complete idiot in front of the others. In the end, her landing was not terrible, but not great either, as her Lion almost tripped over its own paws when she accidentally pulled the controls wrong. Mara cringed at the large sounds her lion's paws made and quickly tried to regain her balance. She couldn't even imagine the looks on Keith or Shiro's faces when they had seen her land... How embarrassing!

A few seconds later, Pidge and Lance joined the trio in the courtyard as they waited for their last member to join them.

"What's taking him so long?" Pidge whined out loud. Lance turned and looked toward the castle ship. "Should someone go in after him?"

Mara thought about Lance's suggestion for a moment before shaking her head. "Just give him a few more minutes, guys."

And just as Mara said, a few minutes later the Yellow Lion came zooming out of the hangar and joined the others in the courtyard. "Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody. Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?" Hunk joked around on the communicator, as Lance and Mara breathed a sigh of relief.

"All right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync." The paladins all nodded to themselves at Shiro's directions.

Another voice of guidance came over the communication channel seconds after Shiro finished. "Feel the bond with your lions and your fellow pilots until six become one unit and you form Voltron!" The paladins all smiled, as they took off from the courtyard and flew high up into the sky.

"Yeah!" The paladins cheered, as they flew in formation towards the left.

"Yeah!" The paladins cheered, this time as they flew in formation towards the right.

"Yeah!" The paladins cheered, as they once again flew in formation towards the left.

"Yay…" The paladins weakly cheered, as they once again flew in formation towards the right.

"Woooo. Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?" Hunk wondered out loud over the communicator. Mara shook her head, silently answering his question. "We're all pretending at this point" she muttered over the communicator. Shiro let out a deep sigh. "Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit."

Keith's lion however began to look from side to side at all of the lions, as if he was thinking about a way to form Voltron. "Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Shiro quirked his eyebrow at hearing Keith's words. "What do you mean?" Keith shrugged his shoulders in response, and his lion almost perfectly mimicked his actions. "I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other."

Lance titled his head to the side, trying to imagine in his mind what Keith was talking about. "Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Shiro shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a try..."

.⋆✦⋆.

Ten minutes passed and the Lions were stacked on top of one another, albeit at weird positions and angles. But Shiro couldn't help but notice that something was off about the placement…"Hunk, what are you doing?"

Hunk titled his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Shiro let out a sigh. "You're supposed to be the leg over there."

Hunk looked surprised at what Shiro had just said. "What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head…. Right?"

"You yelled, "I'm a leg!" said Lance.

Hunk shrugged his shoulders. "Well yeah, I was yelling a lot of things."

"Shiro's the head." Keith replied flatly.

"All the time?" Hunk questioned out loud, with a bit of sadness in his voice. It was almost as if he was pouting about not being the head.

"I don't think we get to switch body parts…." Mara muttered over the communicator.

Hunk sighed to himself. "So I'm always going to be stuck as a leg?"

Mara nodded. "Yup, you will always be a leg…. But that's not a bad thing!"

Keith couldn't help but let out a snicker at Mara's response. He knew that Mara liked to encourage others and did not want for others to feel put down. It was almost a complete opposite compared to when she was younger, when he was the one who stood up for others while she remained quiet.

"Let's just try it my way for now." Shiro said, as the Paladins nodded and their Lions began to disassemble from their current arrangement.

"Okay, but next time I call head." Hunk said with a hopeful tone of voice. And this time it was Lance who snickered at Hunk's words. "That's what she said…" he whispered over the communicator. Everyone let out a groan at the bad joke, but Lance remained smiling.

.⋆✦⋆.

The Blue Lion and the Yellow Lion were the base of the pyramid. The White Lion was up and in-between the Blue and Yellow Lions, with one front and one back paw on each. The leftover room on each side was filled by the Red and Green Lions. The Black Lion was the last one that needed to get in position on the pyramid.

"Okay. Arms and legs... then the center... and I'll form the head." Shiro said to himself as he gently guided his Lion. In seconds the claws of the Black Lion settled on the back of the White Lion, and Shiro's version of the pyramid was complete. He nodded and took a deep breath before speaking. "Now, feel the bonds with your lions. Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron."

All of the Paladins closed their eyes. "Focus. Focus." Shiro softly chanted over the communicator. A few moments passed, and nothing happened. The Lions were still separate and stacked on top of each other. To be honest, Mara couldn't feel anything happening. She wondered how the others felt about this in that moment.

One of Shiro's eyes popped open as he looked around the cockpit. "Is everyone bonding and focusing?"

Lance pouted at Shiro's words. "Why was this so much easier before?"

"Am I supposed to be balancing two lions on my back?" questioned Mara.

Shiro closed his eyes and sighed. "Let's take a break for a minute."

The Lions disassembled their pyramid and were now standing side-by-side on the ground. They all took the moment to stretch out their necks, hands, and legs while they had the break.

But suddenly, the main display screen inside all of the Lion cockpits came to life, and all of the Paladins were greeted with Allura on the screen. "Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle."

The Paladins all stopped to think over what the Princess had just said, as they each went over the events of the previous day. In the end, they all came to the same conclusion that Allura was correct.

"Yeah." said Pidge.

"OK." said Hunk.

"Sure." said Mara.

"I'm listening." said Lance.

"You're right." said Shiro.

"Yeah, I guess." said Keith.

Allura's smile widened as she continued to hit buttons on her console. "Perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!"

Mara's eyes widened at Allura's words. "Wait, what?"

All of a sudden, the barrier around the castle glowed, ad laser blasts came flying out, heading right for where the Lions were standing. Everyone began yelling and screaming as they scrambled to dodge the blasts.

"Allura, what are you doing?" Keith yelled.

"I'm running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses and inspiring you! I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!" Allura yelled as she finished, then the screen went dark.

Mara let out a deep sigh at Allura's words. While she admired the Princess' determination, it did feel like she was pushing them a bit too far at the moment. Sure, fear can be a very strong force, but she didn't think that it would be enough for them to form Voltron at the moment. All of the lions continued to maneuver and dodge the lasers in a tight formation. Lance soon shook his head and began to pilot his Lion out of the formation however. "Forget this! I'm heading back to the Castle!" The Blue Lion separated from the others as it ran over the landscape, dodging all of the laser blasts. Right when it reached the barrier, the Blue Lion was ricocheted and landed rough on the ground. Mara could hear as Lance groaned at the impact. Mara looked over her shoulder to see the Blue Lion on the ground. She let out a tiny laugh. "That looked like it really hurt." Mara muttered to herself, thinking that Lance couldn't hear her.

"YES IT DID!" Lance yelled back at her, letting her know that he did in fact, hear her little laugh and comment.

Hunk began to slightly run outside of the formation, his piloting and dodging skills becoming more and more erratic as he panicked. "Please stop! Please! Have mercy on us!" Allura simply rolled her eyes in response. "Do you think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you? He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!"

The Blue Lion eventually rejoined the group, and a few moments later so did the Yellow Lion. They continued to evade the lasers for about fifteen minutes when all of a sudden, the Blue Lion came to a complete stop.

"Hey, what happened? Where's all of the lasers?" Lance wondered out loud over the communicator.

Hunk was the next to stop his Lion in its tracks as he looked around the area. "I think they might have turned off... Or burned themselves out."

Lance shrugged and began to turn around towards the castle. "Well I'm heading back to the Castle, later!" Mara couldn't help but roll her eyes at Lance's actions. She couldn't help but hope that the barrier around the castle would maybe ricochet him back into the ground. But when she heard no groan or sound of impact on the ground, she knew that Lance had gotten back inside.

A few minutes passed and then Pidge was the next person to announce his departure over the communicator. "I'm going to go see how the prisoners are doing in the cryo-replenishers." Mara thought back to the previous night when she had apologized to Pidge and promised that they would help him get his father and brother back, no matter what. But Mara knew that Pidge was a lot more determined than the rest of them, even Shiro. How far would Pidge be willing to go to get information? Or what if the prisoners didn't have any information about the whereabouts of her father or brother?

A few more minutes passed and Hunk was the next person to bow out. "I'm running low on fuel here, I need to eat something!"

Mara shook her head and then quickly looked around and saw no sign of the Red Lion. Her eyes widened in surprise. Had Keith really snuck off while she was distracted with the others leaving?

Mara decided to test her theory. "Keith? Are you still out here?"

Static crackled over the communicator, and there was silence. Mara sighed in defeat. "I'll take that as a no then…"

Mara looked over and saw that the Black Lion was still standing outside nearby. Maybe Shiro could help her out since Keith wasn't here? She bit her bottom lip in a mix anticipation and nerves. "Shiro?"

Right away, he replied to her. "Yeah, I'm still here."

Mara breathed a sigh of relief and made a small smile. "Do you think you'd maybe be able to give me some tips about piloting? I'm still pretty new to all of this."

There was a few seconds of silence of the communicator before Mara heard Shiro respond. "No problem, I can help you out."

Mara was practically beaming in response. "Thank you so much!" she said, as she piloted her Lion to stand right next to Shiro's. The pair locked eyes and nodded, before taking off into the skies.

.⋆✦⋆.

After about fifteen minutes of practicing various maneuvers and basic piloting skills, Mara and Shiro made their way back to the hangar inside of the castle. Shiro was first to exit his Lion, and waited for Mara to come out of hers. As Mara descended down the stairs of the White Lion, she took off her helmet and shook her hair out. She paused when she reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed that Shiro was staring at her. She blushed before she tucked her helmet under her arm. "Sometimes it feels like this helmet is squeezing my brain." she said, with a little laugh at the end.

The pair began to make their way down the various hallways, looking for where the other Paladins could be resting. Mara decided that now would be the time where she could get to know Shiro a little bit better. True, Keith had told her previously about Shiro, but it was only about things that they had done together back at the Garrison.

"Shiro, can I ask you a question?"

Shiro turned his head towards Mara. "Sure, what is it?" he said, with a curious smile on his face. Mara couldn't help but blush at his smile, and quickly averted her eyes to the ground for a moment before she asked her question. "...What made you decide to become a pilot?"

Shiro actually stopped walking for a second as he was busy thinking inside of his head. Mara stopped walking a few steps ahead of him as she turned around to face him.

Shiro rubbed the back of his head as he thought of his response. "Well it's kind of a long story..."

Mara walked a few steps closer and stopped at Shiro's side. She motioned to the hallway ahead of them and smiled. "Well, we got plenty of time right now..."

Shiro gave her a nod and the pair began to walk down the hallway again, step-by-step in almost perfect sync. "I come from a long line of pilots in my family. Some of them were pilots in the military, and some of them were just pilots as a hobby." Mara nodded as she listened to him speak. Shiro's eyes were focused ahead, but his mind was busy thinking back to the times he had as a child and teenager when he got to ride along with certain family members as they piloted a plane. "I loved the feeling of being up in the air inside of a plane, going through the clouds... And at night time it was even better, it felt like you were getting closer and closer to touching the stars..."Mara looked over and saw Shiro's serene expression. She couldn't help but really admire how much he loved the experience of flying and how passionate he was about it. It reminded her a lot about how she was when she was younger. She would sometimes join her parents when they went on archeological digs and found new artifacts, or when she got to meet people from new and strange cultures that she had never seen or heard of before. Mara shook her head as she got rid of her thoughts and focused back on Shiro speaking. "But it wasn't until the Calypso mission, where in three years, astronauts traveled to the moons of Jupiter. The entire mission really had me interested in joining the Galaxy Garrison. And to be able to become a pilot of a spaceship."

Mara nodded, thinking back to when the Calypso mission was announced. Antoine was very excited, and even made a family viewing party for when the spacecraft lifted off from Earth. It was reminiscent of the launch parties back in the 1960s in the United States, when the space race was going on.

Shiro continued to speak. "Those pilots were heading straight into the unknown. And it made me realize that people can do amazing things if they're willing to put in the time and effort."

That line really struck a chord with Mara, and ended up reminding her a lot of her time when she was studying to get her bachelor's degree. It was a labor of time, effort, and love to be able to graduate with a dual degree, but she had done it. Mara could still remember the looks on her parents' faces as she walked across the stage to get her diploma. She was going to be almost just like them someday.

Shiro began to finish his story. "Eventually I was recruited by the Galaxy Garrison, and I started on the path to become a space pilot. The very first space pilot in my family."

Mara was about to respond when they both could hear Allura's voice in the distance. "Coran! You couldn't have waited until later to do that?"

The pair decided to pick up their pace and find the source of where Allura was yelling at Coran. When Shiro and Mara entered the room, they saw the rest of the Paladins either lying down or sitting on the circle arranged sofas. They all looked very tired from the previous exercise outside of the castle grounds.

Shiro raised an eyebrow and approached the group. "What are you guys doing in here? We're not taking a break."

Allura gave a firm nod. "Shiro's right. You should be training." In that moment, Mara could feel Keith's eyes on her as she looked over at him. He was probably wondering what she had been doing with Shiro while the rest of them were resting. Hunk let out a deep sigh. "We've been training. When are we going back to Earth?"

Pidge eagerly leaned forward. "I'm not going back until I find my family."

Shiro took a few steps closer to the group and crossed his arms over his chest. "Guys, there won't be an Earth if we don't figure out how to fight Zarkon."

And everyone then found themselves thinking back to the previous day when Allura had shown them the map of how far Zarkon had conquered the universe, and that Earth was eventually going to become a target… and possibly a victim to the wrath of Zarkon.

Lance was the first to snap out of his reminiscing and frowned at Shiro's words. "But how are we going to fight? We can't even figure out how to form Voltron."

Mara had to admit that Lance had made a pretty good point. They had tried flying in formation, then they tried forming Voltron from the bottom-up by using a pyramid…. But neither of those ideas had worked.

"Well, I'm not surprised. You know, the original paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears." Coran said, as he used his hands to point at his own ears. However Mara could only find herself thinking what exactly was a yalmor, which made her lip curve upward a bit as she tried to hide a smile.

Lance gave Coran a weird look before a laid back on the sofa and shook his head. "Wow. Yeah, that's definitely not us."

Coran took a step closer towards the Paladins. "During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck."

Hunk's eyebrow quirked upward at hearing Coran's suggestion. "There's a training deck?" he wondered out loud, as if he couldn't believe that the castle ship had something as large as a training deck sitting around somewhere.

Coran gave them a nod and began to lead the way towards the training deck, with Allura following them from behind.

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara couldn't help but let her eyes wander all across the training deck. It was massive and Mara couldn't help but feel like it reminded her of something she had seen before. "I got it! This reminds me of a colosseum."

Lance turned to face Mara. "You mean like the one in Italy?"

Mara tilted her head to see Lance and smiled at him. "Yes, colosseums were places where gladiator matches were held, among other events. It was a center piece of the culture back then."

Hunk was slowly nodding as he listened to Mara's mini history lesson. "Huh, how long ago?" he asked out loud.

"About two thousand years ago." Mara replied flatly. Hunk nodded once again, and in a few moments the Paladins all found themselves in the center of the training deck. Meanwhile Coran was up in the controller booth, where he cleared his throat before he spoke into the intercom. "Two, two, one, two. Okay, listen up, guys. The paladin code demands you put your team members' safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack." Keith visibly flinched at Cora's words. "Huh?"

Coran's voice quickly followed up on the intercom It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." And with that, Coran pressed a few buttons and the training deck began to power up, making a low humming noise. A small group of floating drones came out from the ceiling and began to circle the Paladins below.

Hunk almost instantly began to panic "Wait, wait, wait. What's going on?" In a split second, each of the Paladins was equipped with a shield. "Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?" Hunk questioned out loud, as he glanced at each other the Paladins. Everyone had indeed, gotten a shield. Shiro quickly lifted his shield up in defense. "Get ready."

As the drones began to fire their lasers, Hunk saw a blast aimed at him and quickly ducked for cover. Unfortunately the laser instead hit Pidge in the back. A he groaned in pain, a red circle appeared below him before opening up and causing Pidge to fall into the dark abyss below.

Mara looked over her shoulder quickly just in time to see Pidge fall. "Pidge!" she yelled out in concern. Another laser blast was headed for Hunk, and he was unable to dodge it while he was hunched over on the ground. Within seconds a black hole appeared under him and he yelled as he fell down.

"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!"

Now only Keith, Shiro, Lance and Mara remained on the training deck. The drones began to move faster as they all now stood back to back with each other in a tight formation.

"Time to increase intensity!" Coran's voice echoed off the intercom.

Lance looked over his shoulder to spare a glance at Keith. "You keeping up over there, Keith?"

"Just concentrate on keeping me safe." Keith replied flatly. Lance scoffed at Keith's response. "Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentrate." Mara groaned as she rolled her eyes at the pair. "Less talking, more shielding!"

The drones suddenly shifted downwards and fired. Lance quickly lifted up his leg to avoid the laser, but unfortunately Keith was hit with the blast. Keith yelled as the ground opened below him and he fell down below. Lance was now balancing with one leg in the air, while Mara and Shiro tried to cover him from the upcoming blasts. As Lance fought to regain his balance, a rogue laser zoomed past Mara and hit Lance right in the back. Just like the others before him, the ground opened up and Lance fell downwards.

Mara winced as she watched the pair fall out of the corner of her eye. But while she was distracted she managed to miss seeing a drone shooting a laser directly in front of her, and she was hit in seconds. She landed on the ground with a thud, before she felt the ground opening beneath her. She gave Shiro a panicked look, before she felt herself falling. Mara couldn't help but yell as she was falling, even though it lasted for only a few seconds. When she got up, she saw that all of the others were currently standing and waiting by a door, while they were rubbing their arms and legs where they had gotten blasted by the lasers. Mara's ears perked up a bit as she heard a noise and quickly rolled out of the way just before Shiro came falling down from the training deck. Mara let out a sigh of relief before she got onto her feet, and walked a few steps over to Shiro. She extended her hand to him to help him up. "Need a hand?"

.⋆✦⋆.

The Paladins were now back outside and in their lions, preparing for the net exercise that Coran had in store for them. "You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with your lion."

Lance scoffed. "No problem. Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real."

Coran smiled at Lance's confidence. "Perfect! Then you won't have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your lions into a nosedive!"

Mara's eyes widened at Coran's words. "Did he just say to do a nosedive?!"

Coran cleared his throat. "Yes well, this is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go!

Mara looked frantically back and forth between the screens on her dashboard, unsure about what she should do. She could feel the nerves from earlier in the day beginning to come back, but all she could do to calm herself was to do some deep breathing. "Activating training helmets!"

And then all of a sudden, Mara was blind. Well not exactly blind with her actual eyes, but her visor on her helmet was now pitch black. This only helped to make her even more nervous. She could feel herself beginning to breathe faster.

Lance even let out a small scream. "Coran, what's happening? I can't see!"

Mara could definitely hear and feel the fear in Lance's voice. It was almost a little calming to her that even Lance, who had piloting experience, was having a rough time at the moment.

"You must learn to see through your lions' eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lion feels!"

"Mine feels scared!" Hunk yelled, as he quickly scrambled to pull out and get back into a normal flying position. Mara could feel the beads of sweat on her forehead and her neck, and her hands were now slightly trembling. This wasn't like earlier when she was practicing with Shiro, where he was right by her side to guide her and was showing her the basics of piloting. This was turning out to be much scarier and dangerous.

"You still going, Keith?" Lance teased over the communicator. Keith scoffed at Lance's words.

"You know it. How about you?"

Lance was taken aback for a moment, before he got an idea in his head. He made a cocky smile and his hand clutched the controls and he pushed them forward.

"Me? I'm speeding up!"

Suddenly Mara could feel the velocity of the Blue and Red Lion shoot past her, going at high speeds towards the ground. She wondered why they would be speeding up, when she remembered how they had been acting earlier on the training deck. How Lance was making comments at Keith and then trying to one-up him. Was now really the time to be doing that?

After a few lines of bickering from the pair, Mara then heard a booming sound over the communicator that almost caused her to cover her ears under her helmet. A mixture of static and groans were then heard on the communicator. Mara came to the conclusion that Lance and Keith must have just crashed into the ground.

"What was that noise? Did they crash?" Pidge yelled over the communicator. Before Mara could reply, she heard Pidge make a grunting noise and heard a noise that sounded like a Lion scraping against a rocky cliffside.

"I don't know if I can do this..." Mara whispered to herself. She tried to think back to the tips and advice that Shiro had given her earlier in the day but in the moment she was unable to recall anything. Mara knew that she had to have been getting closer and closer to the ground, and had to make a decision.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: OH HO HO, A CLIFFHANGER ENDING! When it comes to Paladin training, Mara really only excels in two-ish areas, which we will see in the next chapter. But she will end up practicing more than the other Paladins, since she is still very inexperienced.**

 **Mara and Shiro's conversation about why Shiro became a pilot was taken directly from the first episode of season seven, with some additional details I made up myself (such as Shiro belonging to a family of pilots). Eventually, Mara will share with Shiro about why she became interested in anthropology/archaeology.**

 **Now here's a fun fact, in one of my original drafts of this chapter, Mara was going to be halfway in her armor and halfway in her pajamas when she raced to the control room. Lance would make a comment about her state of dress, and Mara would be super embarrassed. In the end, I went with Mara quickly changing into her normal clothes and grabbing her bayard (the original idea seemed too dumb and predictable). But what do you think?**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Mara closed her eyes and quickly pulled her controls towards herself to pull away from the ground. She soon felt herself flying backwards at a fast speed and had no idea where the walls of the canyon were in relation to her position. Mara's heart was beating so fast she thought that it would just burst right out of her chest. She roughly hit the braking mechanisms and hoped that she would avoid crashing just in time. Her Lion jolted around for a few seconds before everything was still and silent. Mara slowly opened both of her eyes and was suddenly able to see again, right as she saw that she had just barely avoided crashing.

Mara let out a deep sigh of relief and sunk back into her pilot chair as her Lion hovered above the ground. She then fumbled for a moment as she took off her helmet, and let her fall to the ground with a thud. Her hands slowly started to stop trembling and her breathing was slowly becoming normal again. Mara had experienced anxiety in the past, but nothing quite like what she had just gone through. The mixture of fear and confusion, along with an overwhelming sense of not having control over anything had almost made her have a serious break down. Mara hugged her knees closer to her body and in that moment, only a single thought went through her mind: "Am I really going to be able to do this?"

A few minutes passed in silence as Mara thought to herself and continued to calm herself down. With one last deep breath, Mara picked up her helmet and placed it back on her head, only to find herself surrounded by lots of loud chatter. Keith was repeatedly asking if she was alright, Lance was complaining about an injury he had gotten, and Hunk was yelling that the whole exercise was insane.

"I'm fine, just a bit shook up" Mara quickly replied, as she began to readjust herself in her seat and place her hands hesitantly on the controls again. Coran's voice then came over the communicator and asked for everyone to come back to the hangar. Mara blinked for a moment before she slowly began to maneuver her Lion out of the canyon. The White Lion soon emerged and flew over to join the rest of the Lions as they made their way back to the castle ship. The Red Lion was at her side right away, and Mara could feel herself becoming more relaxed by its presence.

.⋆✦⋆.

Once everyone had returned, Coran brought the group back to the training deck once more. He then handed out small, white circular headsets for each of the Paladins to place on their heads. Pidge was the one who seemed the most interested in the technology, while Lance was more concerned that the device would mess with his hair. "Now the most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything."

Mara was able to quickly clear her mind and relax, as her mental landscape projected itself in front of her. It was an image of ancient ruins, similar to the ones from the Mayan Civilization in South America.

Coran beamed at her progress. "Excellent, Mara. That was very fast! Now, focus on forming your lion. Bring your lions together and - and form Voltron."

Mara continued to think of the ruins, and soon found herself humming softly. In a split second, the image of the ruins turned into the White Lion, and had a soft white glow surrounding it.

"Keep your minds open, work together. Good! Keep focusing! Only one to go!" Coran watched and marveled as each of the Paladin's began to mentally form their Lions in front of them.

Keith opened one of his eyes and let out a grunt as he looked across the room so see who was left to clear their head. "Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith abruptly yelled.

"I wasn't! Hunk was running around in my head!" Hunk frowned at Pidge's accusation and all of the projections of the Lions vanished.

Hunk titled his head to the side. "I thought we were all open. You can look in my head hole, I won't mind." Coran cleared his throat, trying to get everyone back to focusing. "Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes!"

Pidge and Hunk shared a glance, before they closed their eyes once again. The others followed, and the projections of the Lions returned in front of them all. "Clear your minds! Good! Almost there. Now, form Voltron. Yes!" Coran was beaming from ear to ear as he saw the progress the Paladins were making towards forming Voltron down below.

Mara felt a weird pulse of energy moving through her mind. Was this the connection between her and all of the other Paladins? "I can feel it..." Mara said, her voice barely above a whisper.

This time it was Lance who opened his one of his eyes to see who was keeping them from forming Voltron. "Pidge!"

Pidge got up with a grunt and took the headset off of his head and threw it on the ground. "I'm done with this! Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head!"

"Oh, come on, Pidge, we're starting to get the hang of this"

Pidge turned to face Shiro and frowned. "I'm just... I'm just tired, okay?"

Shiro looked around the room and saw that the others were also starting to get tired from all of the mental and physical training they had done today. "Okay. Let's take a break."

Right away everyone got up from their spots on the floor and stretched for a moment. Coran came down from the viewing area and passed out packets filled with liquid to each of the Paladins. Mara tilted her head to the side as she tried to figure out what was the liquid inside of the packet. She looked over and saw Hunk and Lance with relaxed expressions on their faces as they drank the liquid. She then turned and saw that both Keith and Shiro were also holding their packets in front of them with looks of hesitation on their faces. "You have been working hard. Maybe it's time to relax a little" Coran said as he finished passing out all of the packets. Mara was just about to take a sip from hers when she heard footsteps approaching the group. The others soon also heard the footsteps and turned to face who was approaching. Allura had a frustrated look on her face while her hands were on her hips. "What are you all doing lying around? You're supposed to be training!"

Coran let out a sigh. "Just resting a bit. You know, you can't push too hard." But Coran's words only seemed to make Allura more upset as her brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'can't push too hard'?" she countered, causing Coran's eyes to widen in surprise of her tone of voice. Allura walked closer to the group until she was practically towering over them. Everyone stopped drinking from their packets and looked up at the angry Altean Princess.

"Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you faced the Gladiator!"

Everyone quickly got up and took a few more sips from their packets before Allura nodded and began to lead them out of the room.

.⋆✦⋆.

Allura and Coran were back up in the viewing area while the Paladins were on the training deck below. They each had their bayards in hand, and were spaced out from one another in a circle formation. The bayards suddenly transformed in their hands, revealing each of their weapons.

"In order to defeat the Gladiator, five paladins must fight as one."

Mara ran her hands along her staff, admiring the smooth texture. She also began to notice that it had some strange markings along the sides, to which she made a mental note to ask Allura about later. She then heard Hunk gasp as a robot Gladiator emerged from the ceiling, poised to attack with its own staff in hand. Hunk slowly picked up his gun and fired as the Gladiator ran towards him, but missed almost every shot. Keith pulled up his shield to block himself from being hit. Mara began to move across the room, being as silent and quick as she could while she observed the robot take Hunk down. Just as she was about to run in and strike the robot, Pidge was in front of her. Mara managed to deliver a few blows to the side of the robot but saw that she wasn't causing enough damage. The robot then swiftly turned and swung at Mara's ankles, sending her down to the floor. Pidge continued to fight the robot as they made their way across the room. Mara struggled to get up for a moment before she saw that Keith was now at her side and she hurried to stand up.

"Any ideas on how to take it down?" Mara questioned, as she now watched as Pidge struggled to fight against the Gladiator. Mara saw that while he was doing a good job at blocking, he just didn't have enough power to deliver a blow to the Gladiator, as she soon saw Pidge landing on the ground next to Hunk. Keith was about to suggest something before Lance ran past them with a battle cry and also began to fire at the robot. Keith groaned and began to run behind him, with Shiro on the opposite side. "Still trying to figure that out!" Keith yelled, as he got in a defensive position. Mara continued to linger on the side, trying to figure out a pattern in the robot's movements. She saw Lance's gun get knocked out of his hands and without even thinking, ran over and whacked the gun with her staff so that it began to slide back over to Lance. Just as Lance was about to pick up his gun, the Gladiator staff made contact with his stomach, and sent him flying into Keith before they both landed on the ground with a thud. While Keith was scrambling trying to get Lance off of his body, Mara saw that once again it was only her and Shiro remaining. Shiro's arm began to activate as Mara saw the robot look between them, trying to figure out who to attack next. The robot began to run towards Shiro, but instead of getting in a defense position, Shiro froze up. Before she realized it, Mara was running over just when the Gladiator was jumping to strike, and in seconds, was able to block the blow. Keith moved right behind the Gladiator and had his sword pointed directly at its back. Mara took a quick glance over her shoulder at Shiro as Keith looked around the Gladiator to also look at Shiro.

"You OK?" Keith called out, and Mara quickly nodded to him, but was unsure of how Shiro was doing. Slowly she could feel Gladiator's staff resisting her own, and in seconds they broke contact. The Gladiator quickly swung its staff but Mara managed to jump over it, just as it turned around and delivered a swift blow into Keith's chest. Mara began to twirl her staff in front of herself very fast, hoping to distract or confuse the robot long enough for Shiro to recover. Mara then abruptly stopped and began running towards the robot once again. Their staffs clashed together multiple times while they tried to hit one another. Mara found herself moving swiftly in between the staffs and was even able to jump when the robot made a swing at her legs with the staff. Mara was beginning to feel confident with her movements, but when she glanced over her shoulder again she saw Shiro now on his knees, with all of the color drained from his face. It was Mara's moment of weakness as the Gladiator found an opening and struck, with Mara being unable to block it. She received an electric shock to her body and fell onto the floor, with her staff falling out of her hands and onto the floor beside her.

She could hear the hum of the robot powering down and then heard the heavy footsteps coming from behind it. "That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!" Allura yelled at them, causing the Paladins to shudder in response to her words. Mara looked over and saw that Keith was next to Shiro, and that he had appeared to come out of his daze from before. Mara then turned around and looked at Allura, and then quickly looked towards the ground to avoid her glare. "How could a child be able to take this thing down?" Mara wondered to herself, as she and the other Paladins began to get up and leave the training room.

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara was the last to leave the room, she was feeling pretty defeated and a bit hopeless in the moment. She noticed that Allura was waiting for her by the doorway of the training room, and quickly picked up her pace. "You didn't have to wait for me…" Allura simply smiled at her. "I didn't want you to be alone".

As the pair began to walk down the hallway, Mara began to have a feeling that Allura wanted to talk to her about something. Mara wondered if maybe now she would be able to talk with Allura about the White Lion a bit further…

"You showed a lot of potential in there with your bayard" Allura suddenly stated, catching Mara a bit off guard. She was not expecting for Allura to be giving her any kind of praise when she still failed against the Gladiator.

Mara then looked down at the object in question in her hand, and held it up to her face. "You mean my staff?"

Allura nodded, before continuing, "Your movements were calculated, and smooth at times…. Have you had past experience with a staff before?" Mara couldn't help but crack a smile at Allura's question. "It's funny you mention that… Back on Earth, I was involved with dance for a while… and then upon entering high school, I participated in Winter Guard."

Allura had a confused expression on her face. "What exactly is Winter Guard?"

A big smile emerged on Mara's face when she heard the question come out of Allura's mouth. "It's a mixture of dance, flags, rifles, sabers and staffs…"

Mara began to explain, as she quickly glanced over to see if Allura was really listening to her or not. And to her surprise, she saw that Allura was nodding along with a lot of interest at what Mara was saying to her.

"And you basically toss or spin the flags, rifles, sabers and staffs… While moving and dancing, and it's all choreographed to music playing in the background…" Allura was now slowly nodding, as if she was able to picture some of what Mara was saying but not the entire picture. "I wish I had a video I could show you…" Mara began to say, but Allura quickly shook her head. "You'll just have to show me yourself one day" she said, with a big smile on her face. Mara hesitated for a moment, before she smiled and nodded back. Sure, she would be able to come up with something and be able to show Allura, to get her more interested in Winter Guard.

Allura then asked if Mara could wait for her outside of her room while she quickly changed, and Mara agreed. Within a few moments, Allura emerged, looking regal as ever in her gown. They began to walk down the hall again when Mara decided that now was the right time to talk with Allura about the White Lion. "Allura… Did you ever want to become a Paladin?"

For a moment there was silence between the two, as Mara looked over and saw that Allura's expression looked conflicted. "My father was one of the original Paladins of Voltron… So I would say that it would be an honor to follow in his footsteps and also become a Paladin."

Mara slowly nodded with Allura's answer, and began to think back to the day before when Allura was telling them all about the characteristics of their Lions. Allura had described the White Lion as representing balance, unity, and focus. Right now, Mara was thinking that maybe Allura would be a better fit for the White Lion. She clearly fit all of the same characteristics, and already had experience when it came to combat. Plus, the added bonus of her wanting to be like her father and follow in his footsteps… What she said to Allura next seemed like the most logical option. "I think you should pilot the White Lion then…"

Allura stopped in her tracks upon hearing Mara's suggestion. Mara continued to walk forward, until she noticed that Allura wasn't at her side anymore. She looked back to see Allura's head hanging downward, as if she was upset. Allura's hand quickly surged out and grabbed Mara's, pulling her in front of the Princess and looking at her right in the eye. "Mara, you were chosen by the White Lion. You were chosen because you embody the same traits that it does, along with your desire to fight for what is right."

Mara was about to protest about her not being at the same level of training or knowledge as the other Paladins, but Allura seemed to know she was going to counter her words and silenced her. "Past experience doesn't matter, you will be able to learn all you need to know to be a great Paladin."

Allura paused for a moment, right as they both came in front of the doors to the dining hall. "I was not chosen for a reason. I still have purpose though, to guide you all and help you with Voltron. And to stop Zarkon and the Galra Empire from taking over the universe."

Allura placed her hand on Mara's shoulder and gave her a re-assuring squeeze. "I know you can do this, Mara. We all do." And with that, Allura stepped aside as the doors opened, revealing the other Paladins waiting for Mara to join them at the table. Allura smiled at Mara and gave her a wave, before she walked down the hallway and out of sight. With one lingering look back, Mara took a deep breath and entered the room.

.⋆✦⋆.

The Paladins were now in the dining hall of the castle, sitting down at a large table that was filled to the brim with plates of green food goo. Hunk was the only person who had tried it earlier, and still seemed eager to eat some more of it. The others on the other hand looked at the dishes with a mix of skepticism and disgust. They were all seated side by side with each other, with Coran and Allura on the other side of the table. "Ahoy, young Paladins! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!"

Mara leaned over to whisper in Keith's ear. "For the record, I have no idea what he just said." Keith shrugged his shoulders, agreeing with her response. Mara heard the end bit of Shiro thanking Coran for the food, before they all began to grab their silverware and dig into the green food goo. Coran's eye twinkled as her then produced a remote from out of one of his pockets, and hit a button on it. "Not so fast!" Coran yelled, as he pointed the remote at the Paladins. The cuffs on their armor began to glow and magnetized with each other, connecting them wrist to wrist. They all let out a collective gasp at the current situation. Had they been tricked into doing another exercise?

Lance was the first one to voice his displeasure. "Hold the phone!"

However, Mara found herself moving her left hand closer to her face to inspect the cuffs with one of her eyebrows raised. "Are these handcuffs?"

Coran simply nodded at Mara's question, and began to walk around to the other side of the table. Mara was now waiting for Lance to make some kind of witty response to the situation, but was surprised when he didn't say anything. In fact, it was Coran who spoke next "I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day."

Hunk sent a menacing glare to Coran. "I want you to think about what you're doing." Mara had never seen Hunk so serious about something before, that she actually felt a chill go down her spine at his tone of voice.

But it didn't seem to bother Coran one bit, as he continued, "This one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!"

Without thinking, Mara raised her right hand up high, practically dragging Pidge right out of his seat. She quickly sent him an apologetic glance before she turned to face the Alteans. "Excuse me, but what is a yalmor exactly?"

Coran was about to respond but Allura shook her head, effectively silencing him. Mara pouted and let her hand come down back to her side, and Pidge re-adjusted himself in his chair. "Okay, are you a righty or a lefty?"

Pidge slowly held up his right hand, showing that since he was at the end of the table, his right hand was not bound by the cuffs. He made a small smile at Mara and began to eat using only his right hand. "Righty then... Me too" she said, as she then slowly began to lift her right hand to plunge her spoon into the food goo. Mara wasn't really paying any attention to her left arm, seeing as how Keith was still busy trying to figure things out with Lance on his other side. Eventually, Mara and Pidge had worked out a rhythm to using their arms so that each of them would take a bite of food, then let the other do the same. It made Mara glad that she had decided to speak with Pidge and apologize last night, rather than thinking about what if she hadn't. They probably would have been arguing and struggling like Lance and Keith.

On the other side, Allura was trying to eat her plate of food goo but couldn't help but tense up with every comment or bicker coming from the Paladins. "Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?" Mara sent her an apologetic glance. "Maybe we should try meditating again..."

Shiro let out a sigh. "Can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today." Keith then stood up from his seat. "Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like... like..."Lance was there to help him finish his thought. "Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" Keith fiercely nodded, and gave a quick thank you to Lance.

Coran looked taken aback at how the Paladins were speaking to royalty, as he quickly spoke to defend Allura. "You do not yell at the Princess!"

Pidge let out a scoff at hearing this. "Oh, the princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she's no princess of ours!"

Mara was shocked and looked across the table expecting to see Allura in some kind of distress at Pidge's comment, but instead saw her flinging back her spoon full of food goo, sending it flying into the air and landing directly on Pidge's face with a loud splat noise. Mara's eyes were wide open and she waited to see how Pidge would react. She heard Pidge let out a groan before he looked at the large spoon in his right hand. Mara then looked at her left arm, where she saw that Keith also had a large spoon in his hand. The three of them all looked at each other for a moment, Keith and Pidge putting more goo on their spoons while Mara slowly reached for one of the plates. "Go loose, Pidge!" Keith yelled out. Pidge got up from his seat and flung the food goo at Allura, while Mara filled up the next spoon with more food goo. Allura gasped and prepared to be hit, but was surprised to see that Coran had blocked the food goo from hitting her with one of the plates.

All of the Paladins shared a glance with each other and nodded. "Oh, it's on now!" Hunk yelled, and the dining hall turned into a chaotic mess of flinging food goo for the next ten minutes. There were more gasps, cheers, and groans as each side exchanged blows. Mara couldn't help the smile that emerged on her face and the twinkle in her eye as she began to really get competitive, and took the spoon from Keith's hand and flung some of the food goo directly in Allura's face.

When there were no more plates or bowls filled with goo, everyone stopped to catch their breath. The Paladins all shared a glance with each other, and laughed. They were all covered from head to torso in food goo and looked utterly ridiculous, but they had had fun while doing it.

Allura pounded her fists on the table. "Enough! Do you see what you're doing?" There was silence as the Paladins all froze and prepared themselves to be yelled at again by Allura. Instead, she looked up from the table with a huge smile on her face. "You're finally working together as one!"

Everyone shared a glance with one another and smiled.

"You know what, she's actually right!" Keith said.

"Yeah! I actually don't hate you right now!" Lance replied.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked everyone.

They all exchanged glances once again and Shiro nodded. "Let's go form Voltron!"

Everyone then lifted their hands in the air and cheered for Shiro's suggestion.

Hunk cleared his throat. "Actually, I was thinking dessert. But, yeah! Let's do it!"

They all shrugged but then cheered again and began to try to walk away from the table, but ended up being off balance and falling backwards onto the floor. A collective groan came out of all of the Paladins. Mara soon lifted her head off the ground and tried to look in the direction of the Alteans. "Hey Coran, could you remove these handcuffs now?"

.⋆✦⋆.

A few minutes later, the Paladins cleaned off the food goo from their armor and walked together into the hangar and prepared to get in their Lions. The energy was completely different compared to earlier in the day, as everyone geared up with a determined smile on their face. Mara was even feeling more calm and confident than how she felt earlier when she was piloting her Lion. As she placed her hands on the control, she swore that she heard her Lion make a light purring noise. Her eyes widened in surprise before they softened. She found herself thinking back to her small conversation with Allura. She was chosen for a reason, because of what she believed and the traits she embodied. But what stood out to Mara the most of all, was that Allura declared her support to help her, and that she believed in her. Mara began to smile, and felt an even greater surge of confidence in her system. Sure, she had a lot to learn, but she was going to make it and do her very best. Suddenly Shiro's voice came over the communication channel and snapped Mara out of her thoughts. "Everyone ready to do this?"

"Roger that!" said Pidge.

"It's on!" said Lance.

"Yes, sir!" said Keith.

"Totally ready! "said Mara.

"I was born ready!" said Hunk.

Shiro gave a firm nod. "Then let's go!"

The Lions all roared and came to life, before flying straight out of the hangar and into the Arusian sky. Right away they began to fly in group formation, and soon, with a collective effort and mind, were able to form Voltron successfully for the second time. As the Paladins cheered from inside of their Lions, Coran and Allura were waiting on the ground below, watching them with pleased looks on their faces.

.⋆✦⋆.

After flying around as Voltron for a while, the Paladins decided it was time to return to the castle. Voltron split apart into six Lions once again and they all traveled back to the hangar. Upon exiting the White Lion, Mara walked up to Allura and gave her a huge hug, which took the Princess aback for a moment. When Mara ended the embrace, then gave Allura a firm nod. "You're right, I can do this" Mara whispered, causing a big smile to break out on Allura's face.

Spirits were still high among the Paladins, who all decided to hang out and relax with each other before going to sleep for the night.

Currently they were all spread out on the couch, going over their successes of the day. "Man that was cool! I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight!" Lance exclaimed, as he pumped his fist into the air.

Keith was quick to shake his head at Lance's reply. "Not me. When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out."

On the other side of the couch, Mara rolled her eyes and smiled at Keith. "That'll be a first" she said, with the sarcasm rolling off her tongue. Keith shot her a glare for a moment before they both smiled and softly laughed at each other. Hunk slowly slid down from the top of the couch and was now situated in-between Lance and Keith. "I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man. You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys."

"Awwww" Mara said, much to the annoyance of Keith and Lance. Hunk opened one of his eyes and looked towards Mara. "Oh, and sister!" And Lance then suddenly grabbed Mara's arm and tugged her over into the suffocating group hug.

"G-forces mess with your head a little bit?" Keith asked, as Hunk relaxed his grip on the three. Hunk shrugged his shoulders in response. "Yeah, maybe a little. I don't know. It's been a tough few days."

Everyone then got up and prepared to go to bed for the night, telling each other goodnight. Mara walked with Keith and Lance as they made their way to their rooms. Mara couldn't help but smirk as she watched Lance and Keith talk about piloting stuff, she was glad to see that they were not arguing with each other and seemed to still be on a good note from earlier in the day. Right when Mara was in front of her door, she stopped in her tracks and looked all over herself. Lance raised an eyebrow at this. "What are you doing?"

Mara sent him a panicked look. "I think I left my bayard on the couch…" Mara said, and then started to jog down the hallway. On her way back, she passed Hunk and Shiro and gave them a quick wave before she came to the main door. It opened almost silently and Mara was able to slip into the room, and right away saw that her bayard was lying on the edge of the couch. She picked it up and smiled, keeping a firm grip on it in her hand. Just as she was about to exit the room, she noticed that Pidge was still sitting in his spot, and seemed to have a sad expression on his face while he was looking at a photograph. Mara wondered if it was the same photo that she saw in Pidge's room from the previous night, and began to silently move along the couch to get a better look for herself.

When she was right behind Pidge, she looked down at the photo he was holding in his hand. Mara was able to see it much clearer than she had the previous night. It was a boy and a girl, the boy looked a lot like Pidge with glasses and the galaxy garrison uniform, and the girl… Strangely enough had the same hair color and eye color as the boy? Mara raised an eyebrow at this, trying to think of who exactly the girl in the photo could be. Did Pidge have a sister back home? Were they close? Or was this really Pidge's girlfriend? And it was just a coincidence that they had some of the same characteristics? Mara decided she would just be better of playing dumb in front of Pidge and wait to see what his answer might be.

"She's cute... What's her name?"

Pidge practically jumped in his seat, and quickly turned around to see who was behind him. "Mara!" he yelled, with a surprised look on his face, as he placed his hand holding the photograph onto the side.

Mara took a step back, while rubbing the back of her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that..." Mara then walked around and sat on the couch right next to Pidge. "So who's the lucky girl?" Mara asked, as she got comfortable in her seat and flashed Pidge a smile.

Pidge titled his head to the side in confusion before he realized that Mara was pointing at the photograph in his left hand. "Oh…Her name is Katie."

Mara nodded her head as she looked at Katie. "Lovely name, Katie... How long have you been together?"

Pidge's eyes widened and he began to shake his head. "Together? Oh no, it's not like that! We're just... Good friends…" he said, as Mara could see that Pidge was getting a little bit nervous with his body language and speech. So maybe it is a girlfriend? Mara decided to tease Pidge a little bit further for information. "Uh huh, close friends..."

Upon hearing this, Pidge rolled his eyes and placed the photo in his sweater pocket. "Honestly, she's just a really close friend of mine" he said, with a bit of a snappy tone of voice.

Mara slowly nodded and decided to stop with her teasing about Katie, seeing that it was beginning to upset Pidge. She then held her hands up as a sign of surrender. Pidge nodded once and began to get up from the couch to leave the room. Mara followed closely behind, and could still see that Pidge's expression was still sad looking. "That photo means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

Pidge stopped in his tracks, and turned around to face Mara. "Yeah, it means a lot to me." Mara smiled and took a few steps towards Pidge, before placing her arm on his shoulder. "You'll see Katie again, I promise" Mara said, her voice sounded determined, bringing back a memory for Pidge from the previous night when Mara promised him that they would find her brother and father. Pidge nodded, and the pair walked back to their bedrooms.

When Mara finally reached her room for the night, she found herself practically collapsing on her bed from exhaustion. She placed her bayard on the night stand along her bed, and began to change into her pajamas. She remembered hearing Keith say that he was going to fall asleep right away, while Lance said that he couldn't even think about going to sleep right away. She wondered how tired Hunk probably was and if Pidge was going to go to sleep on time tonight. But Mara's last thought went to Shiro, as she thought back to how he froze on the training deck when they were fighting against the Gladiator. What did he see that had him so frightened? Mara decided to set that thought aside for another day when she would be able to talk to Shiro about it. And with that last thought, Mara closed her eyes and found herself drifting off into sleep.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: To those who may be wondering, what Mara was experiencing in the beginning of the chapter was indeed a panic attack. The reason why she is so dedicated to doing meditation is that it helps her cope with her anxiety. This was a little part of me (and my own run-ins with anxiety) that I decided to place into the character, as well as to show that she does have a weakness, she's not a perfect character.**

 **Now, have any of you ever heard about Winter Guard? It's really cool to watch, you can find a lot of videos from competitions on youtube. I thought it was unique enough (I had never heard of it before I started writing this fic) to be one of Mara's skills/hobbies. It will definitely give her an advantage in her combat training.**

 **I still sometimes get emotional with the scene where Mara says Allura should pilot White. Despite the fact that I know Allura will eventually pilot one of the Lions (not for a few seasons though). But it was established in the show that she really wanted to be like her father, so I'm glad she will eventually get to that point.**

 **And in regards to the final scene, Mara does eventually figure out that Pidge is really a girl (and that Pidge is really Katie). She couldn't stop thinking about how similar the two in the photos looked, and knew that it couldn't be a friend, but somehow they must be related….**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Mara had no idea what time it was when she woke up in the middle of the night. She had successfully fell asleep earlier but now she kept on waking up constantly. At first, Mara thought that she maybe needed to go to the bathroom. But after the third time she woke up, she figured that it could not be because of her bladder that she kept waking up. So, she tried the next thing that came to mind, which was going into the kitchen area for a little snack. As she walked passed the other rooms of the castle ship, Mara wondered to herself how the other Paladins were handling their sleep. It's always strange to find yourself sleeping in a strange place, and sometimes you really just wish you were back home on your own bed. But Mara figured that she would probably get used to the accommodations on the castle ship, seeing that they would not be heading back to Earth anytime in the near future.

As she entered the kitchen area, the lights automatically switched on. For a second Mara's eyes blinked rapidly to adjust to the sudden light source. She then made her way to the left side of the room, and began to look for something resembling a refrigerator or a cupboard to look for food. Mara soon realized that she had no idea where anything really was or how to operate any of the Altean technology, and sighed to herself. She would have to ask Coran the following morning about everything in the kitchen, or another option was that maybe she could ask Hunk to show her the ropes.

Mara slowly began to walk out of the kitchen and head back to her room. She passed the main control room, and was greeted by a full view of the Arusian night time sky, complete with thousands of stars. It made Mara think back to her time on Earth, when she and Keith were out in the desert. You could see so many stars compared to if you were looking at the sky in the city, due to all of the artificial lights. But looking at the Arusian night time sky was completely different, since most of these were stars she had never seen before. As she admired the stars, Mara was completely oblivious to another presence behind here. "Can't sleep?"

Mara couldn't help but jump at the sound of someone else's voice. She quickly turned around to see that it was Shiro who had spoken. Mara placed her hand over her chest to try and calm down her heartbeat.

"Yeah...I was just feeling restless." Shiro nodded, and slowly made his way over to her side. A moment of silence passed between them as they both gazed up at the night time sky above them. "The stars out here are beautiful, aren't they?" Mara glanced at Shiro out of the corner of her eye. The expression on his face was total admiration and amazement for the stars. And in that moment, Mara couldn't help but notice the twinkle in his eye... And the fact that Shiro was just wearing a tank top and sweatpants right now in front of her.

A small blush began to manifest on Mara's face, as she couldn't help but look at Shiro's exposed arms. The other day they had been covered by his sleeves, but now? She saw just how define and huge his muscles were. After a few too many seconds of staring, Mara quickly shook her head to get out of her trance.

Mara quickly looked forward to the stars to avoid eye contact with Shiro, as she softly responded to his question. "Yes, they are... I just never thought I'd be out here... In space."

It was true, Mara had always expected that Keith would be the one up in space and exploring it all. She would just remain on Earth and try to finish exploring each and every square inch of it. As another moment of silence passed between them, Mara began to fidget with her hands. Now that Shiro was here with her and they were by themselves, she wondered if now would be a good opportunity to see what exactly had happened during their training yesterday with the Gladiator. "Shiro... Can I ask you something?" Shiro looked away from the sky and glanced at her. "Sure, what is it?"

Mara nodded and took a deep breath before she spoke. "What did you see earlier when we were fighting the Gladiator?"

Shiro visibly stiffened up a bit upon hearing the question that had come out of Mara's mouth, even to the point of taking a step back from his previous position. His gaze feel to the floor and Mara noticed that his hands were constantly forming and de-forming into fists. Maybe this was not a good idea to bring up, since it was clearly causing him distress...

However, after a few seconds Shiro began to speak about the experience, much to Mara's surprise. "I was having a flashback to when I was captive on the Galra ship... How I tried once to escape and the Galra chased after me in the massive hallways... I was terrified and felt so vulnerable."

Mara looked down at the ground, she was unable to look at Shiro's face as he was describing his flashback, because it was full of fear and pain at the memory of it all. "I can't even imagine what you must have gone through when you were there... I'm so sorry you had to see all of that again"

Mara then took a step closer and hesitated for a moment, before she placed her hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"If you ever want to just... Talk about it to someone, to get it out of your mind... I don't mind being there to listen... A-And I know K-Keith would listen too."

Upon hearing this, Shiro looked up from the ground and gave Mara a small smile. "Yes, Keith has been like a brother to me for so long... I can't imagine what it must have been like for him when I was gone."

Mara slowly nodded, confirming Shiro's thoughts. "Keith took it pretty hard. But it was also then after he got so involved with finding the Blue Lion and ended up reaching out to me for help".

Shiro's eyes widened for a moment as a question began to form in his head. "Mara, why did you come back to help Keith?"

Mara shrugged her shoulders almost right away in response. "Besides ancient looking cave markings being right up my alley of expertise? I felt bad for not contacting him after so long, and I just wanted to see what he had done with his life while I was away". Shiro slowly nodded, beginning to understand Mara's way of thinking. He could remember once or twice back at the Garrison that Keith had spoken about a childhood friend who had moved away for university and that they had lost contact.

Another moment of silence passed as Shiro made a quick glance back up at the sky. "Well, I'm going to try and go back to sleep again. You should probably do the same, I wouldn't be surprised if the Princess puts us through another workout tomorrow". Mara let out a small laugh at that. "You make a good point there, I'll walk with you".

Mara and Shiro found themselves wandering down the hallway that contained the other Paladin's rooms. They could hear Hunk's loud snoring, and the soft mumbling coming from Lance. Mara couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the thought of Lance talking in his sleep, it was pure gold. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Shiro was even smiling at the situation. They heard no noise from Keith or Pidge's rooms, and assumed that they must have been fast asleep. Mara nodded to herself, pleased that neither of them was staying up late like she had suspected they did the previous night. The pair walked until the came to a stop in front of Mara's door, which opened with a light hissing noise. Mara couldn't help but look down at her feet, unsure what to say to Shiro at that moment. After a few moments of awkward silence, Mara cleared her throat. "Well... Goodnight I guess?"

Shiro quickly nodded, and gave Mara a small wave as she began to disappear into her room. "Yeah, goodnight."

.⋆✦⋆.

The next morning, all of the Paladins (minus Pidge) walked down the hallways and into the dining hall feeling good about their most recent training session. "Great job training today, guys. We're really getting the hang of Voltron" Shiro said, giving praise to each of them for their performance.

Lance had a huge grin on his face and turned to face Hunk. "Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!" Just before Hunk was about to respond, Keith let out a scoff at Lance's words. "Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match". Lance slowly turned his head towards Keith and sent him a glare. "Hey, I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "It's not about doing something cool, your kick ruined our balance, and we fell over."

Lance turned away from Keith and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well that falling part was Hunk's fault!" Hunk turned around quickly in surprise at Lance's accusation. "Hey!"

Shiro let out a small groan at hearing the others argue. Mara on the other hand, was trying to hold back a smile as she shook her head. "All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon" Shiro said, as he took a seat in one of the chairs around the table. Mara followed behind Shiro, taking a seat to his left side, next to Hunk. She breathed a sigh of relief at being finished with training for the morning. She was still struggling a bit with her piloting skills, but she was doing better than on her first day.

Keith's hands gripped the back of Mara's chair as he leaned down to speak to her. "How are you feeling about today, Mara?"

Mara looked up towards Keith and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm slowly getting more confidence when I'm piloting my Lion. You and Shiro have really been a big help for me so far".

Suddenly the automatic doors hissed open and Coran waltzed into the room carrying a tray of some kind of food. "Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?" Coran asked, with a pleasant

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked at Coran. "We're getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus".

Coran's eyes lit up in response as he quickly nodded, as he placed the tray on the table in front of them. "We're just about ready. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!"

Coran then lifted the cover off of the tray, revealing and yellow and green blob of sorts that had a... Interesting smell to it. All of the Paladins groaned and turned away from the sight of the so-called 'food', and Mara could have sworn she heard Lance gag behind her.

Hunk was not pleased with what was in front of him and turned to face the chef in question. "Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?"

Coran simply nodded, before he looked down at his creation. "You see this? It's packed with nutrients to help keep your bodies moving!"

Hunk slowly inched his way closer to the plate, and decided to take a sniff of it. "Oh, it smells disgusting!"

It was then Coran's turn to lean forward and inhale the scent of the food for himself, and then let out a pleased sound from his mouth. "I know! That's how you know it's healthy!"

Hunk shook his head and stood up from his seat, before placing a hand on Coran's shoulder. "Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up". And with that, Hunk went through the automatic doors and into the kitchen, with a determined look on his face. Lance and Keith decided to finally sit down, with Keith now occupying the seat that Hunk was in.

Shiro took a glance around the entire room for a moment. "Where's Pidge?"

Coran grabbed a forkful of the food and began to chew it inside of his mouth. "He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary". Shiro nodded and began to get up from his seat to walk out of the room, but Coran got in front of him and held out a forkful of the food to him. "Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!" Coran slowly moved the fork closer and closer to Shiro's mouth, and even went as far as to imitate airplane noises. Shiro groaned and leaned back in response to get away from the food. "No. Just... no".

Mara couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing as she saw Shiro quickly walk out of the room to go and find Pidge. Coran frowned and held his fork out towards the door, practically pointing it at Shiro. "You don't know what you're missing!" Coran turned around and let out a sigh, before he realized that he had a few more possibly willing participants in the room with him. He looked down and saw that Mara was seated in the chair to his right, and decided that he would approach her next. "Mara, would you like to try some?"

Mara's eyes widened as the forkful of food was practically shoved right in front of her face. She tried her best to hold back her sounds of disgust and quickly thought of a way out of the situation. "Uh... Oh what was that?" Coran tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? What is it?" he said, as he looked back and forth throughout the room, trying to hear what Mara had heard a moment ago. Mara began to stand up from her chair and slowly walk towards the automatic doors. "I think I heard Hunk calling my name in the kitchen!" Coran raised one of his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at Mara's response. "That's odd, I didn't hear anything..."

And just as Coran was about to follow up with another question about the noise, Mara bolted out of the room, leaving a stunned Coran behind.

Mara breathed a sigh of relief as she decided to actually make her way to the kitchen, where Hunk was. She thought back to last night when she had tried to find a snack in the middle of the night but did not know how or where things were in the room, and thought that Hunk would be just the right person to ask for help. The automatic doors hissed open once again and Mara saw that Hunk was already busy preparing something new for the Paladins to eat. Mara walked over and observed him working over his shoulder. Hunk had a straight face and was skillfully using the tools before him to cut and mix various ingredients. "So Hunk, what are you going to whip up for us all?"

Hunk looked over his shoulder for a moment, not seeming surprised by the fact that Mara was now with him in the room. "A variation of the Paladin Lunch that Coran made for us...Hey over to your left, could you please bring me some of the food goo from inside of the fridge?" Mara nodded and went right over to grab the item Hunk had requested. As she opened the chrome door, she was greeted with a cool breeze that signaled this was indeed, a refrigerator. She reached for a container of food goo and brought it over to Hunk, who nodded in thanks. Over the next few minutes, Hunk would ask for Mara to retrieve a tool or ingredient from various cupboards and drawers in the room, to which Mara complied with. And every time Hunk would nod in thanks, and then get right back to his work. Clearly he had a passion for creating and making new food dishes, which made Mara think back to how Lance had mentioned in passing one day that Hunk was a very skilled engineer back at the Garrison.

"It's nice to know where everything is now, just in case I get hungry in the middle of the night again...

Hunk quickly nodded in agreement with Mara. "You get the midnight munchies too?" he asked her, with a bit of excitement in his tone of voice.

Mara smiled at Hunk. "Of course I do! Well I'm assuming last night that it was hunger, because it wasn't my bladder..." she trailed off, as she saw that Hunk had gone right back into super focus mode. He now had everything he needed in front of him and was now being very silent as he worked. Mara figured that it must have helped him concentrate. As the minutes went on, Mara realized that he probably didn't need her help anymore and she didn't need to be in the room anymore. So, she slowly walked towards the automatic doors and exited the room, leaving Hunk to finish his cooking in the peaceful quiet of the kitchen.

.⋆✦⋆.

Around twenty minutes later, Hunk emerged from the kitchen with the new version of the Paladin lunch. As he placed the dishes on the table, Lance's face lit up with excitement at the sight of the more appealing food in front of him, as he began to dig into the food. Keith was right behind him, as they both ended up fighting over some of the dishes. Mara gave Hunk a pat on the back and smiled at the antics between Keith and Lance. Coran stood off to the side, displeased with the fact that his food was not as well received as Hunk's was.

The automatic doors hissed open and Allura ended up at Coran's side. She observed that Keith and Lance were practically devouring the food before them, while Hunk and Mara were on the other side of the table eating their food slowly, appreciating each bite. "They like the paladin lunch!"

Coran turned to face the Princess and let out a scoff. "I don't want to talk about it" he muttered to himself, causing Allura to tilt her head in confusion. She quickly shook her head to focus on what news she had to bring to Coran. "I just got the final nebulon booster working. We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon!" Coran's eyes widened and a smile was on his face again with Allura's good news. And just as Coran was just about to congratulate the Princess, the alarm started to sound off all over the room, with the lights flashing red. "Huh?"

Everyone got up from their seats and looked around the room, ready for action. Allura waved her hand and a large screen appeared in front of them all, revealing a security feed from outside near the entrance to the castle ship. They had just managed to see something scurry across the ground and hide behind a rock. Allura decided to zoom in on the image just as a small creature popped its head out to look around.

"What is that?

"I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian?"

"What is he doing?

They all went back to staring at the screen again, as the small creature once again scurried across the ground to hide behind another rock, yelling the entire time.

"He appears to be approaching the Castle"

The creature repeated its actions once again, but was now much closer to the entrance than it was a few minutes beforehand, giving them all a better chance to look at it. It popped its head out from the rock, and Hunk couldn't help but comment on how adorable it looked. "Aw!"

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't look too dangerous..." he said, as he further observed the creature on the screen. "But you never know..." Keith muttered, as he began to reach for his bayard. However Allura was quick to stop him from activating it. "No. Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them!" Everyone but Keith nodded and began to follow the Princess out of the room, excited about meeting the creature and further commenting on how adorable it was. Keith was the last one remaining in the room as let out a sigh, before placing his bayard at his side. "I'm not taking any chances..."

As the group walked down the hallways to the castle entrance, Mara couldn't help but think out loud to herself. "Well this is a sharp contrast to how many societies meet for the first time..."

Lance titled his head in confusion at Mara's words. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, and seemed to also capture the attention of the Alteans with his question. Mara cleared her throat before she began to speak. "Well, typically when one society meets another, things don't go peacefully at first... There is a language barrier, and sometimes everything just starts with violence and fighting. But it makes me happy to see that Alteans might behave differently than us humans..." Lance stopped in his tracks to think about what Mara had been referring to, while the Alteans just simply nodded and continued walking. After noticing that Lance was lagging behind, Keith jogged back to him and dragged him by the back of his suit to catch up with the others. "Easy with that grip, Keith!"

.⋆✦⋆.

In a few minutes, the group reached the entrance to the castle ship, and the large doors began to open.

A loud gasp was heard on the other side, making them assume that the creature had been taken off guard by the doors actually opening. But when they looked ahead, they saw nothing before them. Maybe the creature had decided to hide? Coran noticed that the leaves on a nearby bush were rustling, so he pointed the group towards it.

"Greetings. We know you're there. No harm will come to you" Allura softy proclaimed, as they all waited for the creature to emerge from the bushes. In a split second, the creature tumbled and flipped out of the bushes right in front of them, grunting as he pointed his sword at them. Once again, Hunk saw how adorable the creature was. "Aw!"

But Keith did not see the cuteness behind the creature's actions, and quickly stepped in front of the Princess. "Wait! He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon!"

The creature looked taken aback at Keith's request, and decided to stand up to him. "No one takes Klaizap's weapon! No one!"

Allura shot a glare at Keith and placed her hand over his bayard. "Keith, put that away!" She then turned to face Klaizap and gave him a soft smile. "Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies".

"Huh?" Klaizap seemed surprised by the Princess' sudden kindness, and lowered his weapon. "I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers".

"Followers?" Coran and Lance said as they raised their eyebrows in confusion, while Keith and Hunk narrowed their eyebrows. "Lion Goddess?"

Klaizap nodded, and gestured towards a slab of material to his right. "The one the ancients spoke of". They all looked at the slab that they had not noticed before, and a gasp was heard. Mara eagerly ran over to the slab to take a close look at it for herself. "Oh! Look at those hieroglyphics!" Her eyes sparkled as she looked at every detail and every marking that was depicted. Klaizap looked pleased with Mara's excitement, as did Allura. The others however were slightly confused at just how much excitement Mara was getting out of the moment. Keith just shrugged his shoulders, signaling them that this reaction must have been common for Mara. "I can't believe I didn't notice them before!"

Allura looked from the slab to the creature in front of her. She then turned to face Klaizap. "What makes you think she's angered?" she asked

"Destruction is everywhere. In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky!" Klaizap replied, as he motioned and gestured the actions he was speaking about. Hunk looked back and forth for a moment before leaning towards Lance to whisper loudly in his ear. "I think he's talking about Voltron!" Keith pinched the bridge of his noise and Lance rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I got that..."

Allura slowly shook her head with a small smile on her face. "Do not worry, for you have not angered the Lion Goddess". However, Klaizap seemed unsure about her response and frowned at the Princess. "How can you be certain?"

Allura couldn't help but smile in response. "Because I am Allura and this is my Castle".

Klaizap gasped loudly, before dropping his weapon to the ground. "A reincarnation of the Lion Goddess!" he exclaimed, as he got down on his hands and knees to bow before Allura. The term 'reincarnation' got Mara's attention once again, as she walked away from the slab and closer to Klaizap. "Reincarnation? Have you met the Lion Goddess before?" Mara asked

Klaizap nodded and pointed towards the slab once again. "A long time ago our ancestors met with the Lion Goddess herself, it is the truth!" Mara slowly nodded, and looked between the slab depicting the Lion Goddess and Allura, who Klaizap seemed to be certain was a reincarnation. Sure, the hieroglyphs showed similarities between the two, but some details were different. As Mara took an even closer glance, she noticed that the figure on the slab had white, triangle markings underneath its eyes, similar to the markings that Coran and Allura had. Was it possible that this ancient Lion Goddess was an Altean?

"Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors" Allura said, as she extended her hand to Klaizap. Mara quickly joined Allura at her side, her face beaming with excitement. "And to learn more about your history with the Lion Goddess". Lance and Hunk nodded in agreement, right before Keith decided to speak up. "But what about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" he asked, with a serious expression on his face. Allura softly smiled as she turned to face Keith. "Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks" she said, as she began to walk behind Klaizap towards the Arusian village, with Mara following eagerly behind her followed by Coran and Hunk. Keith sighed to himself when Lance came up to his side. "She does have a point there..."

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: I know most of the Paladins think the Arusians are cute, but in MY OPINION, the little trash puffs from season two are the cutest aliens we see in the show. Or as one of my favorite youtube videos calls them "studio Ghibli looking motherf*ckers". If you want to see THAT video, just search for 'voltron season two in a nutshell' by Alastair Casey.**

 **The next chapter will have a bit more background about Suroa. In case you forgot, Suroa first made her appearance back in chapter four, where she talked to Mara through a recorded message inside of the White Lion. Suroa is the second original character in this story, but there are other original characters who will be appearing over time (the next one won't appear though until mid-way through season two).**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my own original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The Paladins followed Klaizap to his village, where an excited group of Arusians was waiting for them. Introductions were made and an impromptu festival began inside of the village, as the Paladins interacted with their planetary hosts. Finally the King of the Arusians came before them, and ushered them towards the center of the village to offer them something. "Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings!" The King clapped twice, and another Arusian ran in front of him, and prepared a dancing pose. The Paladins all shared a quick glance with each other, wondering if this kind of action was really warranted.

"Commence Dance of Apology! Hoorah!" The Arusians cheered as the music began, with the drums being the loudest. The Arusian began to dance for them, waving her arms and swaying along with the music. The Paladins watched the 'dance' but did not have the same enthusiasm as the local Arusians.

"Please, there's no need for this..." Allura began to say to the Arusian King. Mara frowned and quickly went to Allura's side, shaking her head at her actions. "Allura, wait a second..."

Suddenly the Arusian King clapped his hands once again. "Moontow, halt! The Goddess has refused the apology..." Mara let out a groan while in contrast, Allura seemed relieved.

"Start the sacrificial fire! We must throw ourselves in!" The King yelled, as the Arusians began to line themselves up in order to jump into the pyre behind them. The Paladins were shocked with the recent turn of events, as Mara pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh no... I was afraid this would happen…"

Hunk began to panic as he saw the Arusians moving closer and closer to the flames. "Wait, what are they doing?"

Allura gasped and quickly reached out towards the Arusians, practically yelling at them. "No! No sacrifices!"

Hearing the Princess' protests, the Arusian King clapped his hands and signaled for the Arusians to stop heading towards the pyre. "So, we may proceed with the dance?" Allura froze for a moment before she slowly nodded towards the King. "That's a better alternative".

Once again the Arusian King called twice and the fire was instantly blown out. The music resumed and Moontow began to dance again, seeming more happy and energetic this time. It was probably because she did not have to worry about being burned alive to appease the Lion Goddess.

Mara motioned for the Paladins to come into a group huddle. "We have to respect their traditions. They've been here much longer than we have. We don't want to offend them..."

"But they were about to sacrifice some guy!" Lance yelled, causing Keith to place his hand over Lance's mouth to keep him from making a bigger outburst. Mara gave a silent thank you to Keith before she shook her head. "Because they thought we didn't like their previous offering!"

By the time Mara had finished explaining to them, Moontow had finished her dance and was now bowing before Allura. The other Arusians began to mimic her actions, and soon the Paladins were completely surrounded by the bowing Arusians. Allura seemed flustered by all of the action for a moment but she quickly regained her composure. Mara signaled to her that she needed to say something to them, and fast. "Oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger."

All of the Arusians let out a gasp, and looked at Allura with confused expressions on their faces. Allura looked over to Mara, who nodded and encouraged her to keep speaking.

"It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am Princess Allura and these are the Voltron Paladins. Although we originally came from different worlds... and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends!"

The Arusians seemed surprised by Allura's words for a moment, before the King stepped forward. "To be friends with the Lion Goddess... But hasn't the mighty robotic angel come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?"

Allura firmly shook her head at the King's words. "Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!"

The King smiled and the Arusians broke out into cheers once again, and a new song began to play. Allura extended her hands to Moontow and smiled.

The rest of the Paladins began to interact with the other Arusians, and everyone seemed to be having a great time together. Mara breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they were able to avoid a total disaster. But there was something that was still lingering on her mind. Mara excused herself from Allura and walked over towards the King of the Arusians. "Excuse me, you highness? Please, could you tell me more about this Lion Goddess your people knew in the past?"

The Arusian King turned to face Mara and gave her a firm nod. "Of course!" Mara gave him her thanks as the King clapped his hands twice, and Moontow appeared before them to guide the way. Mara quickly waved to Allura and the other Paladins, who decided to stay in the village square and interact with the Arusians.

The Arusian King and Mara followed Moontow to a small temple like structure on the edge of the town. Mara could not help but look in awe at the building before her, for it reminded her of the Mayan temples back on Earth. Moontow took a step aside and motioned for Mara and the King to enter, before grabbing a torch to illuminate the inside.

They walked down a hallway in almost pure silence, except for the sounds of their feet moving across the ground. Some of the walls contained markings and drawings that soon turned into more hieroglyphics, like the ones that Mara had seen on the slab earlier. As they went further, the King began to speak. "The Lion Goddess came here along with that white castle many, many years ago. She looked similar to your Princess, but had long blue hair and white markings on her face..."

Mara stopped dead in her tracks as she thought back to her first encounter with the White Lion, and when she had seen the virtual recording of its first paladin, Suroa. To Mara, it sounded a lot like Suroa was the same as this Lion Goddess that the ancient Arusians had met. Could it really be true?

"Did the Lion Goddess have a specific name?" Mara suddenly decided to ask, wondering if the connection could really be true between Suroa and the Lion Goddess. But the King did not answer her question, and gestured for her to continue to follow him. Mara quickly jogged back to catch up with the King, as they came into the center of the temple. He continued to tell the story of the past. "The Lion Goddess helped our people and over time, we became close friends. She later told us that she was here to protect something special, and in the end, she also ended up protecting us..."

The walls in the center of the temple were covered in hieroglyphics that told a story about the Lion Goddess arrival, as well as how she became friends with the Arusians, just as the King described. Mara began to wonder how long the Lion Goddess had stayed and watched over the Arusians. A few years? Decades? Centuries? Mara had no idea how long the typical Altean lifespan was, so the possibilities seemed like they could be endless.

"What happened to her?"

The King frowned softly, and began to walk past the middle of the room until he came to a stop at the back wall of the temple. "She ascended from this existence and went back to be with the other gods and goddesses that watch over us all..."

Mara slowly nodded, as the picture was beginning to grow clearer and clearer inside of her mind. When she had finished viewing all of the walls, they began to walk back down the hallway to exit the temple. Mara thought back to the hieroglyphics on the slab from earlier and compared them to one of the final hieroglyphics she saw on the back wall of the temple. There was something similar between the two... And then, the question came into her mind. "And what about... Her body she left behind?"

They had just exited the temple and were back in the glowing rays of the sun when the King looked towards the castle ship, and pointed. "She was buried, just outside of the white castle that she swore to protect..."

Mara's eyes widened in full realization as she looked back towards the castle ship. She remembered why the hieroglyphics seemed familiar, it was because they were identical. It was depicting the place where she had been buried and then 'ascended' to the heavens. "Then those hieroglyphics on the slab back at the castle ship... It's her tombstone."

The King gave her a firm nod, and began to walk back towards the center of the village to celebrate with the rest of his people. Mara stood in front of the temple, still stunned at her realization. "It's Suroa's tombstone."

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara eventually made her way back to the center of the village to regroup with the other Paladins. Keith noticed Mara's somber expression, and pulled her over to the side underneath a tree. "Hey, are you alright?" Mara realized that Keith must have seen the distress on her face, and then forced herself to smile, not wanting to ruin the mood of the festival. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Keith shook his head. "You know you're not the greatest liar..." Mara stared at Keith for a moment before she let out a deep sigh. Mara had forgotten all of those times before when they were younger that Keith was able to always call out when she was lying about something. No matter if the issue was big or small.

Mara crossed her arms over her chest, and looked down towards the ground. "I got the answers I needed, and let's just say they all weren't very pleasant..."

Just as Keith was about to respond, the communicators came to life with a load of static. It took a moment before they were able to hear who was speaking on the other line. "Team, come in! We need backup! Hello?" Allura's eyes widened as she turned to face Keith and Mara. "Shiro?" More static followed, and then they were able to hear Shiro again. "Where is everyone?"

"We're in an Arusian village. Shiro, what's going on?" Keith asked, as his voice began to sound worried.

All of a sudden, the ground beneath them began to move and rumble. The Arusians stopped their dancing and cheering and looked towards the ground in a mixture of fear and awe. Some of them even began to whimper. "Did you feel that?" Mara asked, getting nods from both Keith and Allura. Suddenly, Hunk cried out and pointed towards the sky, where there was an object that was fast approaching the surface of the planet. The rumbling increased, and the Arusians began to run around in various directions. It was complete and utter chaos.

"We gotta get to our lions!" Keith yelled over the commotion, as Mara and Lance nodded to him. "We need to get the Arusians to safety!" Allura yelled out to Coran, who had just spotted a cave in the distance and began to guide the Arusians inside. Allura helped him as they ran across the entire village to make sure everyone was accounted for. "Everyone get inside and stay down!" Allura yelled.

"I'm on it!" Hunk yelled, as he quickly ran past the Arusians towards the cave. Allura looked stunned at what had just happened, until she saw Mara visibly upset and yelling after him. "Hunk!"

Keith then ran up to Hunk, grabbing him by the shoulder and dragging him away from the cave. "Not you!" Hunk began to whimper as they all went to run towards their Lions. Shiro and Pidge needed their help!

.⋆✦⋆.

The group was now in their Lions, desperately trying to fly to where Shiro and Pidge were. As they got closer and closer, they saw Pidge get hit with a purple energy blast and fall hard into the ground. They looked for the source of the blast, and saw that a giant mechanical monster was the one causing all of the chaos. The Black Lion jumped onto its back, clawing at its arms in an attempt to buy Pidge some time to move away. But the monster was able to shake off the Black Lion and was preparing to fire again, when a beam of energy hit him on the side. "Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!" Keith yelled, as he continued to fire at the monster.

"Roger that!" Mara yelled.

"I'm on it!" Lance also yelled.

The Blue Lion and White Lion joined the Red Lion on each side, firing with everything they had at the monster. Meanwhile Hunk was running across the surface in the Yellow Lion, ready to sneak up on the monster. "Check this out! Battle-lion head-butt!"

The impact caused the monster to fall onto its knees, and Hunk cheered with his small victory. The Black Lion and Green Lion joined the Yellow Lion, as they stood in front of the monster. Up in the skies, the other Lions waited for the next attack. "You guys okay down there?" Keith asked, still trying to get caught up with the entire situation.

"We're still alive for now..." Shiro replied, as the Lions took off from the ground to join the others in the air. "What happened?" Mara asked, also trying to get more insight on the current situation.

"We were trying to get records from the ship that crashed here, when we saw that thing entering the atmosphere..." Shiro began, as they all continued to hover above the monster. Then Pidge finished telling their story of events. "We barely got out of there in time and thought we were going to get hit by the shockwave, but our Lions protected us!"

Mara made a small gasp in surprise. "Whoa, really?" The Lions were able to sense that their Paladins were in danger, so they flew out by themselves and shielded them from the attack? It just didn't seem like it could be possible for the Lions to do that... But then Mara thought back to how Allura said the Lions were able to choose their pilots, as if they had a consciousness or something similar to it.

Below them, the monster began to stand up again. "So wait, are the Galra behind this?" Hunk yelled out over the communicator, with a bit of panic in his tone of voice.

"I think so, but I've never seen anything like it before!" Shiro replied, as he began to think of various strategies they could use to try and take down the monster. "So, what's the plan? Shoot at it with everything we've got? Take out its weapon? Call it names?" Lance asked, waiting to hear what Shiro's plan would be. No surprise, it was none of the options that Lance had suggested, as Shiro revealed his plan to the group. "If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it..." All six of the Lions began to glow in their designated colors and simultaneously let out a massive roar. "Form Voltron!"

The Lions all took off into the sky, as Mara could feel the arms and legs of her Lion fold in on itself, becoming open slots for the other Lions. The red and green lions became arms, and the yellow and green lions became legs, all ready to attach themselves to the White Lion. The black lion was last to attach itself on, forming the head of Voltron.

The mighty robot descended from the skies and landed on the ground with a large impact. And a stare down began between the Galra metal monster and Voltron. "Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal" Shiro yelled over the communicator, as they waited for the monster to attack them.

The weapon in the monster's hand began to whirl and come to life, with the purple energy charging up inside. Voltron got in a defensive position, as the robot whirled the weapon around, and the purple energy orb shot towards them at a high speed. Voltron flew into action and managed to dodge the orb, as all of the Paladins yelled preparing to punch the monster in the face. Only to be surprised when the monster was able to meet Voltron's fist with its own, stopping the blow from happening. Pidge yelled as the green Lion aimed a punch at the monster's head, sending it tumbling backwards.

Everyone yelled once again as Voltron jumped high and prepared to body slam the monster, only to be blocked at the last second. The weapon in the monster's hand whirled to life again, as Voltron looked over its shoulder to see the purple energy orb returning back to its master. But it was too late, and Voltron was hit directly in the back. The monster whirled the weapon around and summoned the orb again, as it went up high into the sky and then began to descend downwards. "Huh?"

The Paladins were surprised but were able to move quickly enough to dodge the blast. Voltron hovered in the air for a moment, as the Paladins caught their breaths. "I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!" Keith yelled, as they watched the monster whirl the weapon around again. "Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?" Hunk questioned, as the purple energy orb flew past them, only to come back towards them like a boomerang, but since they had been keeping an eye on the orb, and monster seized the open window to attack Voltron with a massive punch, sending it flying backwards. Voltron crashed into a rock formation, slowly lifting its head up from the ground to look at its surroundings. "Oh, no! The village! We have to protect those people!"

All of the Paladins nodded, as Voltron began to stand up once again in a defensive position. "Hopefully Allura and Coran found a safe place for them to hide..." Mara muttered on the communicator, right before she saw the monster whirl it's weapon again, the purple energy orb blasting Voltron closer to the village, as the narrowly piloted to avoid crushing any of the Arusian huts. Voltron quickly recovered and hovered in the air, before it began to fly towards the monster again. "That was close!"

Voltron flew past the monster, trying to lead it away from the Arusian village. The monster charged after them, his weapon still whirling and charging up. "We got him away from the Arusians, but we can't take him down!" Pidge yelled, trying to think of another way they could try and take down the monster. Lance got an idea in his head, and snapped his fingers. "I got it! I'm going to power-kick that orb thing!" Keith protested right away at Lance's idea. "No! The last time you did a kick, we fell!"

Lance rolled his eyes in response right before he prepared to get into a kicking position. "Stop living in the past!" Lance let out a battle cry, as the Blue Lion prepared to strike-kick the purple energy orb... Only for it to fly past the Blue Lion, and hit Voltron right in the face. "Oh no!"

Everyone grunted at Voltron hit the ground hard, once again. The monster continued to charge towards them as they struggled to get up. "Pidge, fire lasers now!"

"Got it! Fire!" Pidge yelled, as the Green Lion reached out towards the monster, but instead of lasers flying out of its mouth, a shield formed. "Oops!" Pidge began to stammer and try to fix the settings inside of his Lion as Shiro's voice came over the communicator. "No! Lasers! Lasers!"

Voltron was hit dead center and was flung backwards, but managed to avoid falling over this time. Everyone let out a groan as they stopped to think about what they should do next. Suddenly the purple energy orb was back and hit Voltron in the head, now sending it down onto the ground. "Every time we focus on that orb, we're blindsided by the monster, and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!"

Voltron dodged another of the purple energy blasts, until it came back with force and hit it from behind.

"Then what do we do?" Lance yelled, while everyone else let out a groan. The monster's weapon began to whirl and charge up again as Voltron had its back against a rock formation. "Shiro, we gotta move! Shiro, are you there? Shiro?" Keith yelled, trying to get any kind of direction from Shiro about what they should do next, but the Black Paladin remained silent.

"That sound... I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon's arena. I know how to beat him!" Shiro proclaimed, as Voltron flew out of its spot to avoid a charge from the monster. "Listen, there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weakest point. That's when we strike!"

Hunk nodded along with Shiro's plan. "Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" he asked, with a sense of doubt in his voice that the plan would really work.

"Defense!" Shiro yelled, as the orb whirled inside of the weapon and the monster prepared to fire once again. "Pidge, we need that shield!"

"You got it!" yelled Pidge, as he placed the shield right in front of Voltron, allowing it to absorb the hit of the orb. Everyone let out a grunt as Voltron was pushed backwards by the impact, but remained standing. "That's one. Two more to go!"

The shield was once again raised in front of Voltron as the orb came flying towards them and like before, the shield was able to absorb the hit. Voltron was pushed back rougher this time by the impact, but was still able to stand. But Hunk noticed that the shield was beginning to weaken. "We can't take much more!"

Shiro stared straight ahead as he saw the weapon discharge the orb one more time. "Last one! Everyone brace for impact!" The orb hit the shield, and it separated, with pieces of it flying off to the sides. "Oh no, we lost the shield!" Mara yelled

Shiro continued to stare straight ahead, and his eyes widened when he heard the weapon beginning to whirl and charge up again. "Come on... Now!"

Mara thrusted the controls of her Lion, and a blue energy beam shot out of the center of Voltron, hitting the monster and scattering dust and sand everywhere. There was silence for a moment before the dust began to clear and they could hear the monster getting back up from the ground. "It didn't work!" Pidge yelled, as Voltron quickly moved to dodge the orb. "So, now what do we do?" Lance yelled, right before Voltron was hit with the impact from the orb once again. Shiro groaned as he tried to think back to when he faced the monster in Zarkon's arena. "When I attacked him before, I had a sword!"

"Can we form a sword?" Mara yelled, as Hunk began to panic and shout that another orb was headed straight for them. Voltron fell to the ground on impact, and everyone began to feel very weak and tired by the constant barrage. "We can't take another shot like that!" Pidge's voice rang out over the communicator.

All of a sudden the red Lion began to glow and make a purring noise. "Wait a second, guys! I think my lion's telling me what to do!"

Hunk let out a yelp as Lance began to yell at Keith. "Well whatever it is, hurry up and do it! He's about to fire his third shot!"

Everyone gasped and prepared for another impact as the orb whooshed in the air and slammed into Voltron, sending it crashing into the ground. The monster then began to charge forward with the weapon, and jumped into the air to strike.

Keith began to yell, as the green and red Lion came together and formed a sword that was then able to slice through the center of the monster, causing it to hit the ground and explode. All of the Paladins cheered as the monster was now defeated. "Yeah! We did it!"

"How did you do that?" Hunk asked, completely in awe of the last minute sword formation that helped them save the day.

But all Keith could do was stare at his bayard in his own amazement. "Whoa, thanks Red."

.⋆✦⋆.

The Paladins eventually returned to the castle ship, where they met up with Coran and Allura once again. They reassured them that the Arusians were grateful to them for defeating the monster and protecting their village, and declared that they wanted to hold an official celebration in honor of Voltron. Allura thought this was a great idea, and decided to use it as an opportunity for the Arusians to visit the castle ship that they had been neighbors with for the past 10,000 years.

Now everyone was out of their armor and was helping the alien prisoners from the Galra ship prepare to leave Arus, to each go to their own respective home planets.

"Do you have everything you need?" Mara questioned, as she finished handing a crate over to one of the aliens who was boarding the small ship that the Alteans had provided them with.

The alien gave Mara a firm nod. "Yes, I believe we do". All of the former prisoners then climbed aboard the ship and said their goodbyes to the Paladins. Lance couldn't help himself and gave them a thumbs up. "Good luck out there!" The aliens bowed their heads in thanks to them all. "Thank you all for everything. We never dreamed we'd see our families again. But you gave us hope. You gave the universe hope".

The alien's final words struck a chord with Mara. What was her family doing back on Earth? She had originally told her parents she would be visiting Keith back in the United States, but she never stated for how long that she would be gone. Mara was secretly hoping she would also be able to visit Antoine at the Galaxy Garrison base before she went back to France.

But now she was out in space, she was fighting the Galra as a paladin of Voltron. What would her family think if they could see her now? Her father would probably fuss over her doing something that was possibly dangerous. But in contrast, her mother would understand that Mara had taken on an important responsibility, something that she couldn't ignore.

And Antoine would probably be amazed and a bit jealous that Mara was in space, met aliens, and was now a pilot of a giant mechanical lion. All were things that Mara never thought she would do, or even what she could do with her specific career path. She studied ancient civilizations and history, but now she was in the middle of galactic history and multiple civilizations.

Mara was taken out of her thoughts as the ship powered up and began to take off from the hangar of the Castle. Mara couldn't help but wave goodbye to the ship, and the other Paladins followed her example. Mara hoped that they would make it back to their home planets and see their families again. It also made her look forward to seeing her family again sometime in the future when they would return to Earth. Hopefully, once the Galra were completely defeated, and the universe was safe.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Another short chapter (well compared to previous ones), I'm sorry guys. Originally in my drafts I had that Mara would end up meeting up with Shiro and Pidge outside during the ship take off, but then felt like that would be Mara interrupting an important moment between Pidge and Shiro. So instead, Mara thought about her family back on Earth. We will get more details about her parents down the road, and of COURSE more information about Antoine.**

 **BUT on the plus side, we got a bit more information about Suroa…. And boy was it kind of depressing. So far only Mara knows this information, but she will share it with the others eventually. And just after that happens, we will get EVEN MORE backstory about Suroa, and a special connection she has with one of our favorite Alteans…**

 **The next chapter will be the events of both the Fall of the Castle of Lions and Tears of the Balmera. I get excited every time I write a chapter of this story, and I cannot wait for you all to read future chapters to see what I've got planned. Also, I'm so glad to hear about everyone's thoughts about my OC, Mara. She's taken me a while to create and develop, and I am still making changes/tweaks to this day. But I love that some of you are able to relate with her, and that you seem to almost go through the same emotions she does during certain events.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Mara found herself laying down on her bed with her hands behind her head, looking up at the ceiling of her room. She kept on thinking about Suroa and how she had been the one to land the castle ship here on Arus. Then the fact that Suroa had to stay on guard for who knows how much time? And that Suroa ultimately died while she had been protecting the Castle. Was there a chance that Suroa had known Coran and Allura? Were they the "special thing" that she had sworn to protect, even until her death?

The automatic doors to her room hissed open and Allura slowly walked inside of her room. Mara quickly adjusted herself into a sitting position as the doors hissed shut. "Oh Allura, I wasn't expecting you here..."

Allura simply shook her head, and Mara stopped her mumbling. "I hope I wasn't intruding on you or anything..." Mara quickly shook her head in response. "No, not at all! Is there something I can help you with?"

Allura hummed to herself as she sat down next to Mara on her bed. "I wanted to thank you earlier for your guidance and advice with the Arusians."

Mara tilted her head in confusion, until she thought back to their first introduction to the Arusian King and the Dance of Apology. "It was no problem, I just wanted to make sure everything went smoothly and remained peaceful between everyone." Allura patted Mara's hands, and Mara talked to Allura about past history lessons from Earth about colonization. Allura seemed surprised that so much of it stemmed from violence and greed, and assured Mara that the Altean way was very different from humanity.

Just as Allura was about the leave the room, she lingered near the doorway. "Would you like to prepare with me for the festivities tonight?" Allura asked softly, as she turned to face Mara.

The last time that Mara had had any so-called 'girl time' was back when she was still studying at University in Europe, and she had gone out on the town with her two roommates to a big graduation party in Paris.

A big smile appeared across Mara's face as she gave Allura a nod. "I would love to wear something other than my armor, but I don't think my normal clothes would be good enough for a party..." No sooner as the words were out of her mouth, Allura was tugging on her arm through the doorway, and through the halls. Mara had no idea where she was being taken, but then Allura looked over her shoulder and beamed at Mara, and she couldn't help but smile back at the Princess. Eventually, the pair entered the room where the clothing machine was located. The gears in her head shifted, and Mara slowly nodded her head. She was now able to see why Allura had brought her to this room. It was so she could design and wear her own dress for tonight using the Altean clothing machine!

Allura approached the machine and with a wave of her hand, the stylus and pad lit up. Mara slowly walked over and looked down at the pad, unsure of where she should start. Allura gave her some ideas about Altean fashion so she could incorporate it into the dress design. Mara nodded along and continued to sketch out the dress as Allura watched over her shoulder.

The dress was composed of a sheer-like material and was composed of four different colors. The base of the dress was white, with long undersleeves and a long skirt. The neckline was off the shoulder and was connected to flowing lavender sleeves. There was a salmon colored skirt overlay and a flowing lavender train. Gold trim ran along the sleeves, skirt, and neckline. Allura figured out that Mara was incorporating her daily wear outfit colors of red and purple into her dress, along with the white to represent her being the Paladin of the white lion. Allura smiled to herself, admiring the design. If this was what the sketch of the dress looked like, she could only imagine how beautiful the dress would look like in real life.

"I'll be right back..." Allura whispered, as she exited the room, Mara finished putting the finishing touches on her dress, and hit the enter button to let the machine assemble it altogether. Allura entered the room once more, this time carrying a small silver chest under her arm. "I was able to find these that I think would look perfect with your dress." Allura said, as she presented the chest to Mara.

Mara then opened the box to reveal a silver necklace with lavender gems and a pair of matching drop earrings. They all sparkled and were perfect to complete her outfit for the evening. Mara was still in awe as she placed the chest on the console and gave Allura a massive hug. "Thank you for this, Allura. I had forgotten how much fun it was just hanging out with another girl and doing girly things."

Allura returned the hug and nodded. "It was my pleasure. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I did something like this..." Allura began to think back to her past in Altea, and her facial expression softened. Mara decided she would try to change the subject so that the Princess would not get too depressed about remembering her past memories.

"I'll meet you in the main hall in a few minutes, alright?" Mara said, just as the clothing machine made a dinging noise, signaling the dress was ready. Mara gently lifted the dress out of the capsule and held it against her body. The size was perfect, along with the color and texture of this dress. She wondered if Earth would ever have technology like this, because if they ever did, then it would probably but the clothing industry out of business.

When Mara was finished putting on her dress and accessories, she took a final glance at herself in the mirror. She truly looked like she could have been a princess, much like Allura. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder at how the others would react to seeing her dressed up like this. And the one she was the most concerned about was Shiro. A blush settled on Mara's face as she thought about the Black Paladin. There was just something about him that she couldn't help but be attracted to. At first, she remembered thinking that he was gorgeous, but beyond that she saw that Shiro was very confident, brave, and compassionate. Mara quickly shook her head from her thoughts. She just had a crush on Shiro, and it would be no big deal... Right?

.⋆✦⋆.

By the time nightfall had descended onto the planet, Mara began to make her way towards the main hall of the castle. Tonight, they would be hosting a farewell celebration and allowing the Arusians to come inside of the Castle. The Paladins and the Princess would be mingling and interacting with the locals, which was something that appealed greatly to Mara's interests. However, she was still very nervous about her current attire. She knew that it meant a lot to Allura that she would also be dressed up, but part of her now was beginning to regret wearing her Paladin armor instead. Plus, her mind was racing as she thought about how Shiro would react to seeing her new attire.

As she turned one final corner, Mara quickly smoothed out her dress one more time before she took a deep breath and entered the hall. As she scanned around the room, she saw that most of the Arusians from the nearby village were in attendance, walking around the hall and interacting with the other Paladins. She turned towards the main staircase and saw that Allura was busy conversing with the Arusian King.

Mara began to move her way through the crowd, giving small nods and smiles to the Arusians. They didn't seem to mind her appearance at all, which made her feel a bit relieved. Finally, she reached the center of the room where Keith, Hunk, and Lance were currently standing.

"Hey guys, I found Mara!" Hunk yelled, as all three of the Paladins turned to face her. Mara noticed that everyone else was in their Paladin armor, and suddenly felt self-conscious about her appearance. Should she have just worn her armor like everyone else?

Lance and Keith stared at Mara with their eyes wide open. "Whoa..."

Mara couldn't help but blush at the boys' response. She quickly tried clearing her throat to snap them out of their focus on her. "Sorry, it took me a while to get ready..." Mara apologized, as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Lance was quick to recover from looking her over, and flashed Mara a smile.

"Hey, I'm not complaining at all!" Keith let out a groan at Lance's flirtatious remark and elbowed him in the ribs. "What Lance means is... You look great." Keith said, with a soft smile on his face. Growing up with Mara, it wasn't very often that he saw her all dressed up and looking so elegant.

Lance rubbed his side in an attempt to make the pain go away from Keith's elbow jab. "I was actually gonna say she looks gorgeous..." Lance quickly muttered under his breath, which was luckily missed by Mara but earned him a death glare from Keith.

Silence suddenly came over the crowd, as everyone directed their attention to the top of the staircase, where Allura and the Arusian King. The Arusian King clapped his hands twice, and a group of Arusians appeared in front of him and began to act out the battle from earlier that day, with the Arusian King adding his own narration. "The monster fell from the sky! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!"

The Arusians who were representing Voltron suddenly fell over, leaving everyone looking very confused. The Arusian King tilted his head to the side on confusion for a moment, before he shook his head in disapproval. "No. I said, "Voltron was victorious!"

In a split second the actors were reversed, with Voltron now standing tall and proud while the monster was lying down on the floor. The Arusians erupted into cheers and applause at the performance, and so did the Paladins of Voltron.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for that... wonderful production. It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe!"

Allura then turned to face the Arusian King and held out her hands to him. She then held out a communication device and placed it in the Arusian King's hands.

"Your Highness... please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance".

The Arusian King looked down at the strange device with a puzzled expression on his face, before it was replaced with a large smile. The Arusian King turned towards his people and held up the device in the air.

"Hoorah!" The Arusians joined in cheering with their King, and then the rest of the celebration continued.

Hunk smiled at the cheers and then looked towards his fellow Paladins. "You know, we ought to get something like that!"

Keith and Mara shared a confused glance, while Lance raised his eyebrow in response. "Like what?"

Hunk pointed at the cheering Arusians for an example. "You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we could do." Lance thought it over for a moment, a sly grin slowly forming on his face. "Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh... When I say Vol you say Tron. Vol!"

Everyone in the group was silent for a moment, before Keith decided to finish the chant. "Uh... Voltron?"

Mara couldn't help but quietly laugh to herself while Lance frowned, shaking his head at Keith. "No! No, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say "Vol" and you say?"

Keith gave a shrug of his shoulders and repeated the chant that he said before. "Vol..tron?"

Lance sighs and gives Keith a pat on the back. "We'll work on it..." Lance then took a sip from his cup. His eyes shot open and he gagged. "Coran, what is this?"

Coran turned around quickly to see what Lance was referring to, as his eyes landed on the cup in Lance's hands. "Hm? Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods!

Lance stuck out his tongue at the name of the drink and tried to hold the cup as far away from himself as he could. "It tastes like hot dog water and feet!"

Mara quickly looked down at the floor, trying not to think about the cups of Nunvill that everyone in the room was drinking. If Lance thought it tasted like hot dog water and feet, then there would be no way that she would be trying to drink any of that stuff.

"Yeah, makes a wonderful hair tonic as well!" While saying this, Coran sprinkled some of the drink onto his moustache, which seemed to make his moustache suddenly grow bigger and fluffier.

Lance, Keith and Hunk looked down at their glasses of Nunvill with a look of distaste as Coran flashed them a smile and walked away from the group. Mara couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the expressions on the Paladins, and then tried to imagine what they would all look like with moustaches on their faces. She then gave Lance a small pat on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to it, then." Lance shot her a glare before he ended up gagging again, trying not to think about what he had just taken a drink of. Keith excused himself from the group for a few minutes to go to the bathroom, leaving only Lance, Mara, and Hunk congregated in the center of the room.

Coran came by a few minutes later with more cups of Nunvill on a floating tray. They were passed around to the Paladins, who then all proceeded to glance down at the liquid with a look of disgust and hesitation. After seeing Lance's reaction, nobody else in the group really wanted to try and take a sip.

"I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we'll get back home again?"

Mara looked up from her cup, taken out of her thoughts of the gross liquid. Lance had made a pretty solid point that it was going to be an untold amount of time before they were able to return to Earth. Mara couldn't help but think back to the shack that Keith and her shared in the desert, or her childhood home and her parents, and all the other memories she had on Earth. "I'm sure we'll return to Earth someday..." Mara said softly, causing the others to turn their heads towards her, and slowly nod in agreement.

Hunk then took a tiny sip from his cup, and only his nose seemed to scrunch up for a moment at the taste. "Yeah, if ever." Mara then let out a small groan, before she elbowed Hunk on his side, causing him to make a small noise. Lance looked up from his own cup and titled his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean, Hunk?"

Hunk slowly frowned and shrugged his shoulders, before he began to mumble his thoughts out loud. "I mean, if this Zarkon guy has been ruling for 10,000 years, how long do you think it will take for us to fix it? You know, if we live..."

Lance looked back down at his cup of Nunvill solemnly. "Right. That..."

In that moment, Mara saw Lance's mood dramatically shift, and she felt a pang of sympathy for him. With a bit of hesitation, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "I don't know how long it will take, but if we stick together we'll be fine. Nobody is gonna die." Lance's eyes met Mara's own, hearing the certainty in her voice, and couldn't help but believe her that she was right.

Hunk cleared his throat and tried to think of something funny to say to lighten up the mood. "Hey, what do you think the chances are of us landing on a nacho planet?"

This got a small smile from Lance, before he seemed to look off into the distance again, thinking.

"Well, there's only one planet with Veradera Beach, pizza shack looking over the water and the garlic knots and my mom's hugs..." Mara could have sworn she saw the beginnings of tears coming from Lance's eyes, before he let out a small sniffle and covered his eyes. "I'm sorry. I think this Nunvill is getting to me. I gotta go..." Lance walked away quickly and exited the main hall. Mara turned to see that Hunk was frowning and was back to looking down at his cup of Nunvill. "I've never seen him get so emotional before..."

Hunk nodded, while swirling the cup in his hand. "It's gotta be something in the Nunvill" Hunk said flatly, as Mara looked back down at her cup. Right at that moment, one of the floating trays appeared nearby and Mara quickly placed the cup on the tray, watching it glide away. Now she definitely had no desire to drink anything at the moment.

Keith soon returned and asked where Lance had gone, to which Mara replied that he needed a moment to himself. Keith had a confused look on his face at her response, but when he turned to face Hunk he received a firm nod. Without thinking, Keith took a sip of the Nunvill and instantly gagged, much like how Lance did earlier. Mara was quickly at Keith's side, trying to help him get through the awful taste while Hunk tried to suppress a laugh.

For a minute, Mara scanned around the room and finally caught sight of Pidge. His little drone Rover was hovering at his side, and Pidge himself seemed to be constantly looking around the room. Mara thought at first maybe he was nervous about being at a big celebration, but then she noticed that he was carrying his backpack with him. Pidge then came up to the group and gave them a quick wave. "Hey guys, do you know where Shiro is?"

Since Keith was still trying to recover from the Nunvill and couldn't really speak, Mara was the one who decided to reply to Pidge's question. "I'm not sure at the moment, but I'll go look for him. He shouldn't be too far..." Satisfied with her answer, Pidge gave Mara a firm nod and walked away from the group and was then intercepted by Allura. Mara turned to Hunk who was now at Keith's side trying to help him out, to which she was thankful for. Mara then walked away from the pair and began to look around for Shiro.

After she finished scanning along the main hall, Mara decided that she would head over and ask Coran if she had seen Shiro recently. "Ah yes, he said he was going to do a quick perimeter check." Mara couldn't help but shake her head at Coran's response. Doing something like a perimeter check was definitely something that Shiro would do instead of trying to enjoy a celebration. She then turned her attention back to Coran and gave him a nod in thanks. "I see, I'll go find him then."

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara had just reached the entrance to the Castle when she could see Shiro in the distance. It seemed that he was just finishing up with his perimeter check. Shiro then stopped and turned his back to the Castle to take one more glance along the horizon. Mara slowly walked up to Shiro until she was at his side. "Not a big fan of parties?"

Shiro didn't seem surprised at all by her sudden words or presence, and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Believe it or not, I did quite a bit of partying back in the day"

Mara raised an eyebrow at Shiro's response. "Oh really?" She couldn't help but have a hard time imagining Shiro being a partying kind of guy.

Shiro turned to face her with a serious expression on his face, before he cracked a smile. "Yup, back when I was just a cadet at the Garrison".

Mara nodded, as she glanced around their current surroundings. Arusians were still coming in and out of the Castle, and the moon was brightly illuminating the skies. Mara absentmindedly placed her hands behind her back and twiddled her fingers. "So then why are you out here?"

"A little paranoid I guess. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Mara couldn't help but think back to the first time that the group landed just outside the Castle, and Shiro told everyone to use caution. That the last time he wasn't careful enough, he and his team were taken by the Galra. Mara's mouth formed into a straight line as she nodded again with Shiro's words.

"Plus, it gets you out of having to try a glass of Nunvill, right?"

Shiro couldn't help but crack another smile again at Mara's joke. Mara saw this and let out a small laugh, and in a few moments, Shiro was laughing too. It was a nice, lighthearted moment between the pair under the stars. They then took the opportunity to glance at each other out of the corner of their eyes...

Shiro thought that Mara's laugh was cute and suited her very well. He also finally looked at her and saw what she was wearing, and his eyes slowly widened. Mara truly looked like she could be a princess, much like Allura. And how the moonlight shined through the sheer fabric of her dress, revealing hints of skin underneath.

And Mara couldn't help but notice how Shiro had a twinkle in his eye when he laughed, and that he had tiny dimples on the sides of his cheeks that rose when he smiled. Or how Shiro's armor shined in the moonlight, and really accented his muscles... And the more she thought about it, it seemed that Mara had a thing for big muscles.

She quickly snapped herself out of her thoughts and locked eyes with the ground. She was hoping that Shiro did not see the huge, red blush covering her face from the fact that she was totally staring at him for way too long. "By the way, Pidge was looking for you..." Mara mumbled, hoping to change the subject and forget the entire situation.

Shiro titled his head to the side, confused for a moment at what just happened. Was she looking at him too? He almost thought he saw some redness on her face, but he wasn't sure because of the overcasting shadow. Shiro then took one final glance over the horizon, before he turned to Mara and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Alright then, we'd better not keep him waiting"

Mara looked up from the ground, now that the redness on her face had gone down. She nodded at Shiro, and then he offered his arm out to her. Mara looked from his arm to his face, with an eyebrow raised. Shiro gave her a soft smile, and then bowed his head. Mara was a bit flustered, but she quickly recovered, and hesitantly accepted his arm. Right in that moment as the pair began to walk back inside the Castle, she honestly felt like she was like a princess in a fairytale. And Shiro…. He was like a dashing prince… Or maybe he was more like the brave knight in shining armor?

The pair entered the main hall of the castle and right away began to scout for Pidge. Mara could not help but look up at Allura on the balcony and saw her surprised expression. Mara gave her a shy smile back, and Allura gave her a wink. Mara looked forward with a big smile on her face, as Shiro and her made it over to where Hunk, Keith, and Pidge were standing. Realizing she was still holding on to Shiro's arm, she quickly removed it and placed it at her side. Shiro gave her a confused look for a moment, as Mara quickly looked away.

When they finally made their way over, Pidge thanked them for coming back inside, and then called out for Allura to join them. While they waited for Allura, Mara looked over at Pidge and saw that he had his backpack on and his bayard in his hand. A sinking feeling manifested in her stomach and she raised an eyebrow in curiosity. What was going on here?

Once Allura had joined them, Pidge began to explain that he was planning on leaving to go in search of his missing father and brother. It was a total shock to everyone, and was definitely ruining the party atmosphere. Shiro was the first to speak his mind after the silence settled. "Pidge, no."

Pidge let out a sigh and tapped a few buttons on the wrist of his armor. A holographic projection appeared, filled with various numbers and words of data. "The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod all ready to go…."

The sinking feeling in Mara's stomach intensified as she listened to Pidge's words. Pidge wanted to leave the group. Pidge wanted to go out there and search for his missing family, which was the one thing that he had been determined to do ever since they arrived here.

Keith was the next person to speak up in protest. "But you can't leave!"

Pidge let out a scoff, his grip tightening on his bayard in agitation. "You can't tell me what to do!"

Keith crossed his arms over his chest and began to get tensed up. "If you leave, we can't form Voltron. And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families."

"Yeah, I have a family. They live on Earth. I want to be with them. Is that, like, a thing that can happen?" Hunk asked out loud, causing Allura to look over at him with a surprised look on her face. "You want to leave, too?" Even though she looked surprised, her tone sounded like she was very sad to hear what Hunk's thoughts were.

Hunk frowned in response and gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "Of course I do… Look, Voltron is super-cool, don't get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space, fighting aliens."

It was very true, none of them had indeed signed up to become defenders of the universe or fight the Galra. And like Lance had alluded to earlier, who knew how long they would be out here in space? Could it really be for years? Perhaps a lifetime? Mara was snapped out of her thoughts when Keith spoke up again. "You're putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!

Shiro placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Keith, that's not how a team works. People have to want to be a part of it. They can't be forced."

Keith let out a huff and lowered his gaze to the ground. Shiro then looked towards Pidge with a solemn look on his face. "If you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing."

Pidge was silent for a moment but ended up shaking his head. He looked up to the other Paladins with an apologetic expression on his face. "I'm sorry you guys. You're going to have to find someone else to pilot the Green Lion."

Rover let out an unhappy screech as Pidge's proclamation, and quickly followed out as Pidge began to walk away.

Allura let out a deep sigh. "I can't believe it. This team is falling apart. How will we ever form Voltron?"

Mara placed her hand on Allura' shoulder and gave her a soft smile. "Just give it a minute, Allura. We'll figure this out together." But out of the corner of her eye, Mara looked over at Shiro. He seemed just as unsure about what to do as everyone else. Who would they find to pilot the Green Lion when Pidge was the chosen one? Would it even be possible to find another person to pilot the Green Lion?

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion that rocked and shook the entire castle. The Arusians were running around the screaming, while the lights began to flicker. "What was that?" Mara yelled over all of the panic and noise. The Paladins then began to help escort out the frightened Arusians, trying to calm them down and assure them that everything would be okay.

Allura was helping them as well, when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She looked across the entire room with a panic in her eyes, as she seemed to be searching for someone. She then stopped and turned to face the Paladins with a concerned look on her face.

"Where are Lance and Coran?"

Mara let out an audible gasp and Hunk made a whimpering noise, as they were all instantly filled with a feeling of dread. "Oh no!"

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Another cliffhanger chapter ending! And once again, I'm sorry that it's such a short chapter (or at least to me, it seems like a short chapter). Originally, I was going to have Keith privately talk with Mara about what she was upset about earlier in the Arusian village, but I decided against it so Allura and Mara could have some girl time. Eventually though, Mara will talk with somebody about Suroa… Can you guess who it is?**

 **I hope my description of Mara's dress was good enough, I realized while I was writing this chapter that I am horrible at describing details of dresses and parts of dresses. I guess you could say that the main reason why I have Mara in a dress and not in her armor is because Mara thought it would be more appropriate for her in a party-like setting since she is female, and second is because Allura kind of wanted her to wear a dress with her.**

 **But now I kind of have an urge to see how Pidge would look in an Altean dress. I know there is fanart of it somewhere on the internet…. Or, how would all of the paladins look with Altean formal wear? I bet they would look fabulous, especially Lance and Shiro. But I again, I have seen images of Shiro in Altean clothes, looking like he is a prince.**

 **Speaking of which, do you think Shiro would be more like a prince or knight for Mara? I could see him being kind of both, as we have seen by his behavior throughout the show. We are still taking things slow with building up the romance between Shiro and Mara, right now they are pretty much just getting to know each other on the surface… But we will get into more deeper things over the next few chapters.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

The Paladins quickly left the entrance to the castle, just as the last few Arusians were running out and back towards their village. At least they had been able to evacuate most of them out of the castle, and now they would be safe in their village.

"Hurry, this way!" Allura yelled, as they practically sprinted through the halls to get to the main power room. When they got there, there was smoke and ash everywhere, making it very hard to see anything. There were also pieces of scattered metal in all shapes and sizes that were decorating the floor.

They then heard a pained groan coming from the right side of the room, and the Paladins soon saw Coran's form through the now settling smoke. Coran was clutching his head, most likely still recovering from the impact of the explosion. Shiro was right at Coran's side to help him get back on his feet. "What happened here, Coran?"

Coran let out another groan as he tried to recollect his thoughts. He then turned to face Shiro and the others, with a blank expression on his face. "I'm not sure…"

More of the smoke and ash in the room settled, and the room became more visible before them. Allura let out a gasp as she stared at the center of the power room. "The crystal!"

Mara took a few steps forward, as she gazed upon the center of the room. The once glowing, massive crystal had been completely blown to pieces in the explosion, which explained the loss of power in the entire castle. "It's totally destroyed..." Mara whispered out loud, as she turned to face Allura and saw a heartbroken look on the Princess' face.

There was suddenly another low, groaning noise coming from the left side of the room. Allura was quick to step over and scan the area for the source of the noise. Her eyes began to widen as Mara caught her gaze, her eyes falling on Lance.

"Lance!" Allura and Mara yelled, before they raced over to his side. Shiro was quick to join them and was looking to see if Lance was still conscious. "Lance?" Shiro whispered, as Lance then let out a groan, but did not open his eyes. Mara quickly kneeled on the ground, and gently lifted Lance's head to rest on her lap. Lance let out another weak groan as he continued to breathe very slowly. At least he was still somewhat conscious, Mara thought to herself.

"Lance he… He pushed me away from the blast…" Coran whispered, as all of the others turned to look down at the fallen Blue Paladin. Mara couldn't believe how selfless Lance was to risk his own life to save Coran. Was it stupid? Yes, but it was selfless none the less. Mara gently moved some of Lance's hair out of his face and was silently hoping that he would try to open his eyes.

"We have to get Lance to the infirmary!" Pidge exclaimed, taking Mara's focus off Lance and looking towards Pidge's determined face. But Allura shook her head, almost on the verge of tears. "Without the crystal, the Castle has no power."

Mara was quick to follow Allura's thoughts as she titled her head to look where the crystal once stood. "Which means we can't use the cryo-replenishers..." A feeling of dread came over the room, while Shiro looked over Lance's body to look over his injuries. Shiro then turned to the others with a deep frown on his face. "He doesn't look good." At this point, Mara was now trying her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill down her face.

"How did this happen?" Mara thought out loud, as she continued to cradle Lance's head. The other paladins were silent, as if they were also lamenting the cause of the situation in front of them.

Suddenly, the Arusian King ran into the room with terrified look on his face. "Oh, Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!" Mara's eyes widened at the panicked state of the Arusian King. The village was under attack right now? She thought they would have been safe in their village after the explosion in the Castle!

Keith stepped up right away and gave the King a firm nod. "Let's get to the lions!" But Allura quickly stepped in front of Keith, blocking his path. "You can't. They're sealed in their hangars. There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless."

Arusian King looked between Keith and the other paladins with a confused and anxious look on his face. "Will you not help us?" the King asked, sounding more and more desperate with his tone of voice.

Keith cast his eyes downward, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll help you. We just – "

Lance let out another groan, causing everyone to turn and look down at him. Mara was now holding Lance's head in place and was trying to rub his temples to soothe him more.

Coran slowly leaned off Hunk to stand on his own, as he looked towards where the crystal had once been standing. "We have to get a new crystal to get the Castle working again. But, to get a new crystal, we need a ship…" Pidge was right at Coran's side in a split second. "The pod I was loading, we can use that! I left the bay door open." Coran nodded at Pidge's suggestion. "Good, I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there's a Balmera nearby. Hunk, you come with me. I'll need someone big to help me carry the crystal." Hunk titled his head in confusion at Coran's words. "A Balmera?" Coran let out a huff as he began to leave the room, with Pidge and Hunk on his heels. "It's where the crystals come from. I'll tell you about it on the way!"

Keith looked back to the Arusian King, now with a more determined look on his face. "I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village." The King bowed his head to Keith in thanks and began to run out of the room and back towards his village.

"I'll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians." Keith hesitated for a moment, before he saw the Princess' expression. She was determined, much like him in that moment. Keith then nodded, and the pair began to walk out of the room.

"I'll tend to Lance and stand watch over the Castle!" Shiro called out, just as Mara placed her hand on his arm. Shiro looked right up to Mara's face, noticing that she was now taking the dangling earrings out and placing them on the floor. She had a determined look on her face, much like how Allura had a moment ago. "No, we'll both tend to Lance and stand watch over the Castle."

Shiro gave her a firm nod, before he looked over her current state of dress once again. Mara raised an eyebrow at this, before she quickly caught on to what Shiro was hinting at. Mara gently began to stand up, as Shiro slowly lifted Lance's head off Mara's lap. When she was finally standing, she brushed off her dress and turned to the exit. "Just let me go change out of this dress really quick, this hardly is a party anymore..."

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara came back to Shiro a few minutes later, now dressed in her paladin armor. She was just finishing pulling her hair back and into a high ponytail. Shiro slowly placed Lance's arm over his shoulder and began to hoist him up from the ground. Mara was quick to jump in and she placed Lance's other arm over her shoulder. "We should move him from the explosion site. Get him somewhere safer."

Shiro gave her a firm nod, before he motioned towards the room's exit. "Good idea. Let's move." As they carried Lance carefully through the halls of the Castle, Mara could feel the sweat building up on her forehead and on the back of her neck. With a few more steps forward, a few strands of hair from Mara's ponytail fell onto her face. She tried blowing a puff of air upward to try and move the strands, but they just ended up landing back in the same spot.

"Hang on, buddy. Help is on the way." Shiro whispered out loud, as Mara looked at him out of the corner of her eye. It looked like Shiro was also beginning to sweat from exerting himself, which made Mara feel a little more relieved. She wasn't really a strong person, but she had thought that Shiro was a lot stronger than she was. So, seeing him also having a struggle to support Lance's weight made her see him more like her.

As they continued down the main hall near the entrance to the Castle, Shiro was noticing that Mara was starting to get a bit slower and weaker from carrying Lance. Looking over to the left, he saw that there was a small alcove in the hallway. Shiro let out a small whistle to get Mara's attention, before he inclined his neck towards the alcove. Mara looked over and let out a grunt in acknowledgment as they began to walk over.

"Let's rest here for a moment." Shiro said, as he began to lay Lance down. Mara nodded, as she slowly lowered Lance's body down to the ground. Once Lance was safely resting on the ground, Mara wiped away the sweat from her brow and tucked the strands of hair behind her ear. She then looked over to Shiro, who was also catching his breath. "Thanks for that." Mara whispered, as Shiro turned and gave her a nod. He then began to look around the hallway, keeping a lookout.

Meanwhile Mara was busy trying to piece together the string of events that had led to their current situation. First, there was an explosion in the power room, Lance was found to be badly injured, and then there was the attack on the Arusian village.

Mara's brow furrowed as she thought back to the moment when she heard about the attack. It seemed unbelievable that it was happening at the same time as they were looking over the remains of the explosion. Come to think of it, it seemed a lot more like a coincidence that the attack happened after the explosion…

Mara took a deep breath, before she looked over at Shiro through the corner of her eye once again. "Shiro… Doesn't this all feel a little off to you?" she whispered, with a tiny bit of doubt in her voice. Shiro glanced over at Mara, with a thoughtful look on his face. The gears were now shifting inside of his head, as he was also putting all the pieces together. Then, a wave of realization came over him as his eyes widened. Just as he was about to speak, his head shot off to the side and he peered around the alcove. His body became stiff and tense, causing Mara to look over at him with a concerned and confused expression on her face. "Shiro? What is it?"

Mara then quickly leaned over and looked around the alcove and let out a gasp. "It's Sendak." Shiro muttered. Indeed, approaching the entrance of the castle were two very opposing Galra who were being accompanied by a handful of armed Galra sentries, and a mysterious large container. Mara then cursed herself for her thinking to turn out to be right, that all of this was planned from the start.

Shiro quickly pulled Mara and himself back into the alcove, as he began to plan their next move. Mara looked down at Lance, who was still barely conscious. She knew that he would not be able to get up by himself, let alone to fight. Mara could see that Shiro was busy trying to decide what they should do, when the answer seemed very simple to her.

Mara placed her hand on Shiro's shoulder, as she inclined her head over to Lance. "It's alright Shiro, I got Lance."

Shiro looked hesitant for a moment, before there was a glow of light and Mara's bayard transformed into her staff. It made a clang when she pounded it into the ground, before holding it at her side. She had that determined look on her face again, and in that moment, he knew Mara would be able to watch over Lance.

Shiro gave Mara a firm nod, before he peaked out from the alcove and then sprinted towards the entrance of the Castle. While she couldn't hear what anyone was saying, she could hear the familiar hum of Shiro's arm powering up, signaling the beginning of a fight.

Mara peaked out from the alcove when she suddenly heard Shiro yelling, only to see him being dragged across the ground by Sendak. Mara held back the urge to yell out for Shiro, and instead re-focused her attention on Lance. He was still breathing very slowly and seemed to be making a low moaning sound. Mara hoped that Shiro would be able to hold off Sendak and his forces for a while, at least until Keith and Allura returned. Mara hoped that Keith had been able to sense that something felt off about the whole situation, just as she had moments ago.

Mara could hear the sounds of multiple ground impacts as the fight continued just outside of the Castle. When she decided to take another peak, she saw Shiro and Sendak colliding fists, sending out a small shockwave. It was amazing just how much power both Shiro's and Sendak's prosthetic arms could hold. Mara could see that Shiro was looking a little beat up and tired, as he seemed to be breathing deeply.

Sendak appeared to be saying something to Shiro, right before his arm began to power up again. This time, Mara couldn't help but yell out a warning for Shiro. "Look out!" But it was too late, as Sendak recoiled his arm back and sent a massive punch right into Shiro's gut. Shiro was then sent flying backwards right into the Castle and ended up landing right next to where Mara and Lance were.

Looking over, Mara tried to cover up her gasp with her hands as she ran over to Shiro's side to try and help him get back on his feet. Shiro let out a grunt as he began to try and get up, making brief eye contact with Mara. He could see that she was very concerned about him, as she was looking over his body for any injuries. Looking over her shoulder, Shiro could see that Lance was still laying down, breathing slowly. Right as he was about to get back onto his feet, he looked out from the alcove and his eyes widened. With fast reflexes, Shiro pushed Mara out of the way and ended up jumping to the right to avoid the blow Sendak's arm.

Mara ended up landing on the floor with a thud, as her bayard flew out of her hand. She could feel her heart rate increasing rapidly as she replayed the moment in her mind. How could she have been so careless? Sure, she wanted to make sure that Shiro was alright and help him up, but Sendak was still advancing on them! She quickly scrambled to grab her bayard and stand back up again, now more on edge.

Shiro and Sendak continued to fight, but Mara was only able to catch a glimpse of it before she was approached by two Galra sentries. Mara looked over her shoulder at Lance, before she felt a feeling of protectiveness come over her. "Stay away from him!" she yelled, and with a quick twirl of her staff, Mara shot into action, delivering harsh blows to the back and chest areas of the sentries. Suddenly, a button appeared on Mara's staff, that had a faint white glow to it. Without hesitation, Mara clicked the button and the edge of her staff became electrified. The two sentries shared a look with each other before they faced off against the White Paladin once more. Mara charged at the sentries and this time delivered electrified blows to the back of their heads, causing them to collapse onto the ground and de-activate.

Mara looked over the sentries with a pleased smile on her face but forgot to realize that she still had her back turned from the other enemies. She soon felt her hair being yanked upward and found herself hanging slightly off the ground, right as her staff fell out of her hands. Mara clawed her hands at the person grasping at her hair, until she looked up and saw that it was one of Sendak's lieutenants. "Foolish girl" Haxus sneered, as Mara continued to struggle and cry out in his grasp. One of the remaining sentries then pointed a gun right at Mara's head, while the other two went over to Lance and grabbed his limp body from the alcove.

Haxus moved forward with his hostages, just as Shiro and Sendak reached a stalemate in their fight. Both were literally neck and neck with each other, prepared to deal the final blow as they fought to catch their breath.

"Let him go or we'll kill them both!" Haxus yelled, causing Shiro to turn away from Sendak and see Lance and Mara with guns pointed at them. Mara had a defiant expression on her face as she struggled from Haxus' grip on her scalp. But Shiro's moment of concern was the perfect distraction for Sendak, who sent a punch right at Shiro and sent him flying backwards once again.

"NO!" Mara tried to yell out, before she was yanked upwards once again by Haxus, effectively silencing her. Sendak began to make his way over, just as Mara watched Shiro drift into unconsciousness. With a look of terror and anger on her face, Mara looked up at the alien general, who seemed to be basking in his win. "Voltron is ours." Sendak proclaimed, before he looked down at the two fallen paladins on the ground. Sendak then looked at Mara and without any warning, sent a punch right into her face, knocking her out as well. Haxus released his grip on her hair, and she fell to the ground next to Shiro and Lance.

As her vision began to fade to black, Mara could still hear the snickers coming from Sendak and Haxus as they looked over their victory prize.

.⋆✦⋆.

A few hours later, Mara could feel herself returning to consciousness as she tried to fully open her eyes. Her scalp hurt like hell, and her face throbbed with pain. When her eyes fully opened, she found herself surrounded by a glowing purple light, and a small band of Galra sentries with their guns trained on her. "Ugh… What happened?" Mara thought to herself, as she tried to think back to the last thing that she could remember before blacking out. Mara then let out a gasp as the memory of the previous night came flooding back into her mind.

She and Lance had been taken hostage by Haxus, and then Shiro had been taken down by Sendak. Mara was then punched in the face by Sendak, just as he and his second in command looked over the Castle. Mara let out a groan at the memory, just as the pain began to intensify.

Mara then heard a weak moan coming from the person next to her, to see that Shiro was also regaining consciousness. "Shiro?" Mara whispered, hoping that he would be able to hear her.

Shiro winced for a moment before he could reply. "Mara? Is that you?" Shiro whispered back, right as his eyes widened as he looked over at Mara, who looked worse for wear at the moment. She had a large, purple bruise on the left side of her face, and strands of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail were now framing her face. Shiro felt an overwhelming sense of anger knowing that somebody had hurt Mara in such a way.

Mara slowly nodded, trying not to bring any attention to the Galra that they were awake. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Shiro let out a soft grunt in reply. "A little roughed up, but I'm alright. What's our current situation?"

Mara let out a small sigh as she prepared to catch him up on current events. "Sendak knocked us out and captured the Castle. I think he's going to try and take off."

Shiro slowly looked around the room, seeing only Lance next to them on the ground. He still appeared to be unconscious from the explosion that happened the previous night. Shiro hoped that Coran and Hunk would be back soon, they could use the reinforcements and the new crystal for the Castle. Then Lance could finally be healed from his injuries, and so could he and Mara for that matter. "Where are Allura and Keith?"

A crestfallen look appeared on Mara's face in reply to Shiro's question. "I'm not sure... Same goes for Pidge."

Shiro slowly nodded, fully realizing the dire situation that they were in. "I hope they are okay..." But before Mara could reply, Sendak's angry voice roared over the room, "Haxus! I want whoever's in this ship found and terminated!"

Haxus was busy typing at the console, before he was able to bring up something on the holo screen in front of him. "Commander Sendak, I've received a transmission generating from somewhere inside."

Haxus then hit the play button, and Mara could hear Allura's voice come over the transmission.

"There's not much time before they get the ship running again. You must shut off the particle barrier, so we can get in."

From what she could gather, it seemed that Allura and Keith were on the outside of the Castle, alive but unable to get back inside to help them out.

"You got it. Tell me what to do."

And Pidge! Somehow, he avoided capture up to this moment and was now inside of the Castle and was single handedly trying to help and power down the Castle so Sendak could not take off. A small smile appeared on Mara's face, as they still had a chance of taking Sendak down.

"Kill the paladin. Repair the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron. This ship will rise before day's end..." Sendak declared, as Haxus and the Galra sentries exited the room. Mara couldn't help but feel a swell of panic begin to rise in her chest, as she realized that they were now left alone with the enraged Galra commander.

"You there, White Paladin!" Sendak yelled, as he began to walk over to where Mara and Shiro were sitting. Mara let out a yelp of surprise, as she was yanked up by her breastplate to look at Sendak right in the eye.

"Tell me, who is the intruder? What are his weak points?"

In that moment, Mara was completely terrified. Her heart rate was increasing rapidly once again, as she could hear Shiro weakly trying to protest against Sendak's actions. But Mara knew that she couldn't give up, that she couldn't tell anything that Sendak wanted to hear from her. She still believed in her teammates. And so, with a defiant look on her face, Mara spit in the face of Sendak before she replied to him. "I'll never tell you."

Sendak reeled back in disgust, as his face contorted in anger for a second at her defiance. But then it was replaced with an evil grin on his face, and Mara felt her confidence waver away. "Then you will suffer."

A look of terror appeared on Mara's face, as she shut her eyes to prepare for whatever blow Sendak was about to land on her. In the background she could hear Shiro crying out "NO!" in protest, but it was no use. Sendak recoiled his arm back, before sending a massive punch to Mara's gut. All of the air was taken out of her lungs, as the force of the punch then sent her flying backwards and into the wall. Mara let out a weak yell as she slumped to the ground. The pain in her head and now chest intensified, as she felt herself beginning to black out once again.

Just before her eyes closed, she could see that Sendak was now standing above a distraught Shiro, with a sadistic glimmer in his eyes. Mara let out another slow breath, before she let the darkness overtake her, just as she heard Shiro scream.

.⋆✦⋆.

There was nothing but darkness for a while, before a sudden shimmer of white light appeared in front of Mara's eyes. She then found herself back in the main hall of the Castle, but this time she was surrounded by all of the Arusians from earlier. She looked over to her left and saw Hunk and Keith sharing a laugh with each other, having a great time. Mara then looked over to her right and saw Allura and Pidge fussing over the space mice, rubbing their little bellies and scratching their heads, while the mice looked on with contentness.

She then looked behind her and saw Lance and Coran talking, while Coran was gesturing to his glorious moustache. It appeared that they were talking about facial hair or something similar, as Lance then gestured to his chin.

The sound of someone clearing their throat took Mara's attention away and she turned around and saw Shiro standing in front of her. He was holding out his hand to her, with an expectant smile on his face. As Mara raised her hand out to meet his, she noticed that she was back in her Altean inspired gown.

But before she could linger on it any longer, Shiro had her hand in his and was guiding them to the center of the room. Music then began to play in the background, as the Arusians began to pair of to dance with each other. Mara looked around, confused for a moment, before Shiro twirled her around and dipped her, leaving their faces inches apart from each other.

Mara could feel the blush on her face intensifying, as she found herself looking over every detail of Shiro's face. His beautiful deep grey eyes that reminded her of a storm cloud, the dimples that formed whenever he smiled, his smooth lips…

Suddenly, Mara heard the sound of an explosion, and the entire Castle seemed to shake from the impact. A look of panic emerged on her face, as she quickly stood up and looked around the room for the source. But surprisingly, none of the Arusians were panicking, and neither were any of the Paladins. They were just continuing to dance and chat with each other, as if nothing happened. Mara turned her head towards Shiro, who had a concerned look on his face. "Mara are you okay?"

Mara suddenly felt a throbbing pain inside of her head and found herself having trouble breathing. Pain blossomed in her torso, as she found herself on her knees trying to hold back her sounds of pain and anguish.

The colors in the room shifted, from white and blue to black and purple, as the Castle began to crumble all around her. Then there was fire everywhere, as the Arusians ran around in a panic. When she turned to look over at the Paladins, she saw them all lying down, looking very battered and bruised. Coran and Allura were being detained by Galra sentries and crying out in protest at whatever was happening. Mara then turned towards the center of the room and saw Shiro fighting Sendak, just as he was struck down to the ground.

Mara crawled her way towards Shiro, just as she heard the noise of one of the sentries' guns going off behind her. Tears were now cascading down her face, fearing only the worst had just happened to her Altean friends. When she finally reached Shiro, she saw blood everywhere, and a lifeless look in his eyes. Mara gasped loudly, just as she turned to face Sendak with a look of pure rage and heartbreak on her face. But before she could advance towards him, she felt a massive tug on her hair, and was being lifted into the hair. Mara cried out in pain, while Sendak laughed in her face. There was then a flash of purple light as a blade appeared in front of her neck, threatening to slice her open. Mara clawed at the hand holding her scalp, and tried to summon her bayard to activate, but found that it was not in her hand anymore.

Sendak gave a nod, and there was a quick slicing motion before Mara felt nothing. Her vision began to fade, just as she felt her scalp being released and she fell to the ground. Sendak and the sentries were standing over her, smiling and laughing at her defeat. "Vrepit Sa!" Sendak proclaimed, just as Mara's vision went completely black.

.⋆✦⋆.

Mara found herself bolting awake and breathing heavily. What happened to her? She felt s shift of movement to her left and saw that Shiro was looking at her in alarm. "Mara?" he whispered, as Mara's breathing began to calm down. There was still some pain in her chest and head, but it did not seem as intense as it was earlier. "Sh-Shiro…." Mara said weakly, as Shiro shook his head in panic. "Stay with me, Mara." Shiro pleaded desperately as Mara began to sway a bit from side to side.

Mara tried to speak again, before the lights in the room flickered and there was static over the radio. Sendak pounded his fist on the console as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Haxus, report in."

More static followed, before a voice came over the radio that did not sound like Haxus at all. "Haxus is gone, and you're next!"

Mara felt overcome with joy for a moment at the sound of the Green Paladin. "Pidge!" she exclaimed weakly, as a smile appeared on her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Shiro was also smiling in relief.

Sendak was taken back for a moment before he let out a frustrated groan at the news. "You've slowed me down, but this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!"

"Never!" Pidge yelled, but instead of frustrating Sendak further, he seemed to just shrug off her response. And that meant nothing good. "Well, then, maybe your leader can convince you…." Sendak said, as he sauntered over to where Shiro and Mara were sitting. His prosthetic arm then began to charge of with electricity as he pulled Shiro off to the side. "What do you want?" Shiro weakly asked, as a smile appeared on Sendak's face. "Your friend wanted to hear from you…"

Pidge's voice then came over the transmission. "Shiro?" He sounded scared and unsure if it was really Shiro was speaking to him. Shiro could hear the doubt in Pidge's voice and started to yell out to him. "Pidge? Pidge don't listen to –" But Shiro was unable to finish as he began screaming, all the while Sendak was shocking him with his arm. "SHIRO!" Mara tried to yell, as she could also hear Pidge's cries of protest over the transmission.

But Sendak continued to electrocute Shiro for what seemed like minutes, until he finally stopped after a few seconds. "You can make it stop. Turn yourself in. His suffering is in your hands."

Sendak's offer lingered in the air as more static came over the radio. Then there was silence. Sendak dragged Shiro back towards the others, where he then slumped to the ground. Mara weakly looked up at Sendak with a look of disgust on her face. Sendak just sneered at Mara, before her turned his attention once again to the Black Paladin.

"I'm impressed that you managed to escape. Perhaps it would be worth the trip to your planet to see if the rest of your kind have your spirit. Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you. Now that we have Voltron, every planet, every race, all share the same fate."

"You're wrong." Mara spoke up, surprising Sendak. He then turned to face her and growled in her face to scare her. But Mara just stared at him right in the eye, seemingly unphased by his attempt at intimidating her. Mara then found herself being yanked upwards by her ponytail once again and was eye level with Sendak. "I didn't say you could speak."

Sendak abruptly dropped Mara back onto the ground, where she landed with a painful thud. He then walked back over the console and began typing away furiously. Mara let out a deep breath and tried to push away all of the pain she was feeling from her mind. She looked over at Shiro, who seemed to be looking at her with a mix of amazement and sadness in his eyes. "I'll be alright, Shiro. Don't worry about me."

Mara could then hear the sound of footsteps approaching as she turned towards the doorway, seeing Pidge standing there. Sendak let out a yell and charged right for Pidge, who seemed to manage to duck and roll out of the way in time. Sendak went charging down the hallway looking for the Green Paladin in a frenzy.

After a second, Pidge peaked from around the corner and ran into the room, where he quickly stopped right in front of Mara and Shiro with a look of worry on his face. "Shiro? It's me, Pid- "

Pidge was cut off as he was suddenly grabbed from behind by a now returned and enraged Sendak. "You really thought your little hologram trick would work with me?"

Pidge let out a groan as he tried to free himself from Sendak's grip. Suddenly, Keith and Allura ran into the room, Keith with his bayard activated and in sword form. Mara felt her heart swell up with joy upon seeing the Red Paladin once again, as well as the Princess. Somehow, they had been able to get back inside of the Castle… Maybe it was Pidge that helped them get inside?

"Stand back!" Sendak proclaimed, as he continued to hold Pidge in his grasp.

The sound of a gun firing was heard, as Sendak was struck in the back. Pidge was released from his grasp and tucked and rolled next to Keith and Allura. Mara looked over to see that Lance was the one who fired his gun at Sendak, randomly coming out of unconsciousness. "Lance?" Mara questioned out loud, with a look of awe on her face. Lance smirked at his perfect shot, just before his bayard transformed and he passed out again.

Shiro had gathered enough energy at that point and got up to charge at Sendak, before he was slammed to the side. Keith and Pidge then began to tag-team fight Sendak, before Pidge successfully landed a blow that powered off his prosthetic arm. "NO!" Sendak yelled, becoming more and more angry as he charged back at the Green and Red Paladins.

Allura was meanwhile at the central console, typing as fast as she could. The computer began a series of beeps, before Allura hit the final button with a flourish. She then turned to face Keith and gave him a firm nod. "KEITH, NOW!"

Sendak was pushed back by the force of Keith's sword, and ended up inside of a barrier that surrounded the purple crystal. Sendak punched the barrier repeatedly, trying to bust himself out. But after a few tries he realized that it was useless, as he let out a defeated grunt.

Pidge ran over to where Mara and Shiro were sitting and sliced through their handcuffs. Allura was soon at Mara's side, helping her try to stand up. Mara gave a soft smile to the Princess. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

Allura gave her a small smile back, before she gave her a light hug. "I'm glad to see you too." Mara looked over and saw Pidge giving Shiro a helping hand up, before she then looked over to her left and saw Keith trying to help Lance get up from the ground, but seemed to be cradling him in his arms for support. She could barely hear Lance mutter something to Keith, before Keith smiled softly at him.

.⋆✦⋆.

Hunk and Coran shortly returned back to the Castle, with a new crystal to power up the Castle. Mara let out a sigh of relief as she looked towards Lance, who was now conscious, but was still taking things very slowly. Keith was still helping him stand upright, and they were heading towards the cryo-replenishers.

Allura and the other Paladins followed, and Mara found herself walking next to Shiro and Pidge.

Mara looked over Shiro, glad to see he was able to walk around again. But he still seemed pretty bruised up from all of the fighting he did. "Still a little rough for wear?"

"Yeah, a little bit. You look pretty rough too though." Shiro said, as he then looked over her body to asses her injuries. The bruise on her face wasn't swelling anymore, but it was still very purple. And if he had to guess, her stomach was probably also bruising pretty badly, even though it was currently covered up by her armor. She had finally let her hair down and out of the ponytail too, probably not wanting to put it back in that hairstyle fort a while until her scalp healed. But Mara slowly waved off his concern with her hand. "Oh, I'll be fine. Just a few bruises and cuts... It's mainly my scalp that hurts like hell."

Pidge titled his head in confusion as he looked over at Mara. "What do you mean?

Mara shrugged her shoulders as she began to explain. "Well they kept on pulling my hair to lift me up. It was not a pleasant experience. Makes me almost wish I didn't have such long hair..." Mara said, as she managed to play with a strand of her hair. Pidge's eyes lit up with amusement, "I could cut it for you, if you want?"

Mara's eyes widened as she leaned away from Pidge for a moment, clutching her hair to the side. "Not so fast, Pidge. I said 'almost'."

The trio shared a small laugh, before Shiro's expression turned serious. "Mara, I really think you should go in the cryo replenisher anyway." Mara made a pouting face before she turned to face Shiro, and saw just how concerned he was for her. It made her think back to the nightmare slash dream she had when she had fallen unconscious after Sendak's punch. All of the details of Shiro's face were so close in front of her, that it made her start to blush again.

Mara looked away for a second, trying to calm herself down and let her blush subside. She then nodded and flashed a smile at Shiro. "I will if you will as well. I saw how beat up you got when you fought Sendak."

Shiro gave a small roll of his eyes, knowing that Mara had a point there. He then lifted up his hands in surrender. "If it will make you happy, then I will."

Now it was Mara's turn to roll her eyes, as she gave Shiro as pat on the back. "It will give me more of a peace of mind than happiness, Shiro."

Pidge looked between the two as the conversed, with a small smile forming on his face. There was something there between Shiro and Mara, and maybe they couldn't notice it right now, but he could. Lance was helped into one of the cryo replenishers by Keith, before he gave them all a small wave and was sealed into the pod. "After a day in here, he should be fully healed."

Mara shook her head as she stared at Lance, still with a look of disbelief on her face. "I still can't believe he came out of his coma for a second and shot Sendak..."

Keith was right at Mara's side, and nodded in agreement. "It was pretty unbelievable."

"Pidge, we can't thank you enough for all you did. I can't help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team... but I understand if you want to leave." Shiro said, as silence came across the room. Mara looked over at Pidge, to see he had a contemplative expression on his face. She hoped that Pidge would not still want to leave, not after all they had just gone through over the past twenty-four hours.

Pidge shook his head, and gave the group a small smile. "My Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members. They were like family. Now I understand what he was talking about. I'm staying with you guys. Let's stop Zarkon for all of our families."

Keith walked over to Pidge's side and gave him a pat on the back. "Good to have you back on the team."

Allura appeared right behind Mara and began to whisk her off to the side of the room. "Now it's cryo-replenisher time for you!" she said, with a sing-song tone to her voice. Mara let out a small sigh before she looked over her shoulder at Shiro. "He's going in one too, Allura!" she yelled, as Shiro rolled his eyes slightly. "Yeah yeah, I'm coming too…"

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay! Monday was Labor Day and unfortunately, I still had to work, so there was no chapter for that day. But at least I came back with my LONGEST chapter ever for you guys as an update! So, this chapter takes place with the second half of episode four, and all of episode five. Mara got the crap kicked out of her quite a few times, but she still stayed defiant in the face of the enemy. And don't worry, she'll heal up quickly in that cryo pod (it'll maybe take a few hours, and not a day like Lance).**

 **The dream turning into nightmare sequence literally plopped inside of my head, and once it was there, I knew I had to keep it in. It's a bit of a darker take on how the Castle could have been overtaken by Sendak, and I'm glad it's not what really happened.**

 **The next chapter will start with some original scenes, since the group has to wait a day for Lance to heal. But then we will be getting into the events of episode six, finally leaving planet Arus and meeting some new characters!**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Mara and Shiro ended up in the cryo replenishers for just a couple of hours for their injuries to heal up. As they began to walk out of their pods, they were helped to their feet by Keith and Allura, Mara spared a glance over her shoulder and saw Lance still laying down peacefully in his own pod. His injuries were a lot more severe and would still take a while to heal. Mara then asked Coran how long she and Shiro had been in the pods for. "It's been about six of your earth hours. "Mara nodded and thanked Coran, before another thought popped up in her head. "How long would it be in Altean hours?"

"It's not just Altean, it's how the whole galaxy measures time!" Coran replied, with a smile on his face. Mara titled her head to the side in wonder. Back on earth, most things were measured the same, but with a few differences. That mainly being the metric system versus standard measurement. Most countries in the world used the metric system, whereas the United States used standard measurement. Mara remember it was a bit confusing to transfer from ach system when she and her family moved from France to the United States, and then back to France again just a few years later. Antoine seemed to pick up on it a bit easier, even though he was younger than Mara. But then again, Antoine was always gifted when it came to science and mathematics.

"And to answer your question, it would be four vargas." Coran said, with a smile on his face. Mara slowly nodded in response, before she slowly found herself swaying to her left side. Allura was quick to catch on and helped pull Mara back upright before she fell over. Mara shot the princess an embarrassed look. "Sorry, I'm still a bit dizzy…"

Allura shrugged her shoulders as she helped Mara regain her balance. "It's not a problem at all."

Mara on the other hand quickly looked to Shiro, to see if he was also having issues with his balance. But instead she saw Shiro talking with Keith, with perfect posture and balance. Mara let out a huff, she just wasn't used to being through so much activity like this. "Will you be alright from here?" Allura asked her, as the pair began to walk out of the room. Mara stretched her arms out before she slowly nodded to Allura. "Yes, I'm sure. Nothing a little bit of rest and a good shower can't fix." 

Allura blinked for a moment before she gave herself a small hit on the head in realization. "Oh, you wish to refresh yourself! Let me show you where to go later." Allura then began to take a detour from Mara's bedroom, as the pair headed for the bathroom. In the back of her mind, Mara made a mental note to ask Allura if the bathrooms were communal or not. When the pair finally reached the room, Mara's eyes widened with surprise. The room was huge, easily three times the size of her university dorm room back in France. The floors and walls were white and pristine, and all of the sinks, showers, and toilets were metallic. Allura couldn't help but look at Mara's face and let out a small giggle at her reaction. "I take it this room pleases you?"

Now it was Mara's turn to let out a small giggle. "Yes, this room is amazing." Mara replied, as she began to look around the room for towels. Allura stepped aside for a moment, before she whistled for Mara to follow. Mara gave her a nod of thanks. "If you need anything else, please let me know."

As Allura left the room, Mara grabbed one of the fluffy white towels and put it under her arm as she walked over to the nearest shower stall she could find. She then began to strip out of the cryo pod suit as she turned on the hot water. Thank goodness Allura had shown her how to use the shower and what the correlating symbols meant, otherwise she would have probably ended blasting herself with a bunch of cold water.

She folded and placed her suit neatly on the bench before she stepped inside of the stall, with the door automatically closing and sealing behind her.

When she was finished, Mara placed her hand on the door and it automatically unsealed and opened, as Mara was greeted with a small stream of cold air. She quickly reached for the fluffy white towel on the bench, and wrapped herself up eagerly inside of it. That was when she heard the noise of water running not too far away from her, and she felt herself freeze in place. Someone else was in the bathroom with her. Panic began to rise in Mara's chest as she clutched the towel closer to her form, and reached out for the cryo pod suit. But to her horror, the suit was gone from the bench! Mara wondered if during her shower, Allura had possibly come in and taken the suit to be either cleaned or recycled. Mara shook her fist in the air at her bad luck, now she had nothing to change into, which meant she would have to exit the bathroom in just her towel! And she still hadn't figured out who was in the bathroom with her.

Mara wrapped her towel closer to her body, just as she heard the water shut off. Her body tensed up as her mind began to run at a thousand miles per hour. She then decided that she had better hurry up and get out of the room before she saw who else was in here. As she tip toed across the room, she could hear the sound of the automatic door opening, and somebody releasing an exhale of breath as they got out. And the exhale sounded like it was coming from a male. Mara could feel her face burning up with embarrassment as she tried to ignore what was happening in the stall nearby, and continued to walk forward.

But she was not paying attention to where she was walking, and ended up slipping on the floor with a loud yelp, and landed flat on her back. Mara tried to hold in her moan of pain, but she knew that somebody would have heard her yelp of surprise. She quickly looked down to see that her towel was still around her, and let out a sigh of relief. She then began to steady herself on her hands to push herself upwards, while trying to be careful about the wet surface of the floor.

Only to hear the noise of somebody clearing their throat, as she felt a wave of dread come over her. She ever so slowly began to turn around with her eyes squeezed shut, before she fully opened her eyes and was totally taken off guard by the person in front of her. There was Shiro, clad in only a white towel, with tiny droplets of water still running down his skin. Mara couldn't help but stare at Shiro, while trying to keep her mouth from hanging open by biting her lip. Her entire face felt like it was on fire, no doubt giving her the appearance of a red and ripe tomato.

But Shiro also appeared to be staring at her

There was a moment of silence between the pair, as they went back and forth with making eye contact with each other. Finally, having been flustered enough, Mara quickly muttered out an apology before she ran past Shiro. She almost ended up slipping on the floor once again, before she felt a hand grab around her waist to keep her upright, before she was pulled right to Shiro's chest. Mara froze on the spot, and was now clutching her towel super close to her body.

Mara briefly looked up and made eye contact with Shiro before she regained her balance once again. "T-Thank you Shiro…" Mara quickly stuttered out, before she wiggled out of his grasp and began to briskly walk out of the room. Just as she reached the exit, Mara looked over her shoulder to see that Shiro was still standing in place, probably trying to figure out what and how exactly this all happened.

Mara picked up her pace as she continued to walk through the hallway, until she finally made it to her room. Mara quickly slipped inside, and the door automatically shut behind her. Mara let out a deep breath as she placed her back against the wall of the door and sunk downward. That moment with Shiro in the bathroom definitely made the list of her top three most embarrassing moments ever. She should've asked Allura if the bathrooms were communal. But at the same time, how was she supposed to know Shiro would be in there the exact same time as she was? Mara let out a groan as she thought about how she would be able to look at Shiro after this. It was definitely going to be awkward for a while, but hopefully something else would come up that would take both of their minds off of it for a while. Mara removed the towel and slipped into her pajamas, before she laid down on her bed.

She needed to calm herself down from the previous string of events. But her mind couldn't stop racing at the thought that Shiro had almost seen her naked! Well, she had been in a towel, but she was naked a few minutes before that! And then there was the fact that Mara had seen in in nothing but a towel, right after he had emerged from the shower!

Of course, she then had to almost slip and slide on the floor while trying to make her escape from the situation, and he had ended up preventing her fall… And pretty much burying her face in his chest! The heat in Mara's checks intensified as she thought back to it all, and she quickly began to fan herself with her hand. Thank god neither of their towels had fallen off… Who knows what could have happened from there…

Mara couldn't help but bite her lip at that thought though, the more she thought about it. Did she want him to see her naked? Did she want to see him naked? Yes and YES! Mara's brain seemed to scream, before she quickly shook her head out of her thoughts, and cursed her raging hormones. She thought she was done with the boy crazy phase of her life, in that she had gotten that all through her system back in University. But now it seemed to be rearing its ugly head again, and of course it would be with one of the most handsome men Mara had ever met in her life!

Mara clapped her hands to turn off the lights in the room, as she situated herself in her bed. She just needed to get some sleep now, and forget everything that just happened to her. Yes, sleep and recover some of the strength she had lost back when she was fighting against the Galra, and trying to protect Lance and Shiro from the wrath of Sendak… Mara slowly found her eyes fluttering and begin to close, as she began to drift off into sleep.

.⋆✦⋆.

A few hours later, Mara felt herself waking up to the sound of somebody pounding on her door. Right away, Mara's eyes popped open and her heartbeat increased. Was it possibly Shiro? Oh god, she really hoped it wasn't Shiro. Her face felt like it was getting warm again as she thought back to how Shiro looked coming out of the shower… Or how he had caught her by her waist and brought her right to his chest…. Shaking her head out of her thoughts, Mara slowly got up from her bed and made her way towards the door. She hesitated for a moment before she activated the door, hoping that it would not be Shiro on the other side of the doorway. To Mara's relief, it was Keith how was standing out in front of her door. "How are you feeling now?" Keith asked, as he leaned against the doorway. Mara let out a sigh of relief as she smiled at Keith. "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

Keith gave her a nod, before there was a moment of silence between the two. All Mara could think about was if Shiro had talked to Keith since their encounter in the bathroom. She knew that Keith and Shiro were very close to each other, having a bond like brothers. But if Keith had talked about it, he didn't say anything, as he cleared his throat a few seconds later. "Lance should be coming out of his cryo pod soon so…."

"Oh okay, just give me a second…." Mara said, as she quickly walked back over to her bedside dresser, and began to change out of her pajamas and back into her day clothes. When she was finished, she re-appeared back at the door and smiled at Keith. "Let's go!" Mara cheered, as she began to jog down the hallway to the medical bay. Keith stared at Mara blankly for a second, before he gave a shrug of his shoulders and began to jog after her.

Within a few minutes, Keith and Mara entered the medical bay and saw everyone else was already waiting in front of Lance's cryo pod. Mara briefly made eye contact with Shiro before quickly looking away, her mind flashing back to their encounter in the communal bathroom.

"Glad to see you're all rested now!" Coran said to Mara, giving her a pat on the back and breaking her out of her thoughts. Mara slightly recoiled in surprise from Coran's pat, before she cleared her throat. "Yes, I am feeling much better now. Your healing technology is simply amazing!"

"Why thank you! But it's not just technology, it's actually a combination of alchemy and technology." Coran said, as he began to go on a mini tangent about how his grandfather was one of the pioneers when it came to forging together Altean technology with alchemy. As he spoke, Mara couldn't help but think back to how the Castle seemed to also operate on a mixture of technology and alchemy, as could be seen with how Allura's quintessence could create wormholes and pilot the ship.

By the time Coran was finished with his spiel, all of the Paladins were right up against the glass of Lance's pod as they tried to see how he was doing. "I can't tell if he looks healthy or not!" Hunk said, as he stepped forward and back trying to get a better perspective. "I think he's breathing weird!" Pidge said, her face literally pressing up right against the glass.

"Oh, come on!" Keith said with a groan, as he tapped on the glass of the pod for a moment. Allura quickly slapped his hand away and shot him a glare. "Not yet! Just a few more ticks." Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in response. "How much better do you think he's gonna get in a few more ticks?"

"And what exactly is a tick?" Pidge asked, pipping up. Allura gave a shrug of her shoulders as she continued to type on the console. "You know, a time slice." Shiro gave a confused look to the Princess. "Is that like a second?"

Allura turned to face the Paladins, this time with a confused look on her face. "What is a 'second'?" Pidge quickly retrieved a portable clock out of his pocket, and held it up in front of Allura. "Like this!"

The clock began to beep with each passing second, as Allura titled her head to the side as she looked at the clock. "I'm not sure. I think ticks are bigger. Coran, do you have a ticker?" Immediately, Coran was right at Allura's side with the 'ticker' in his hands. "Right here, Princess." The ticker then began to beep with each passing second, as Pidge and Coran held their devices right next to each other to make it easier for everyone to compare. Hunk leaned in closer to the ticker, trying to hear which was which. "I think ticks are a little slower…" Hunk concluded, as Pidge shook his head. "I can't tell. We have to start them at the same time."

Coran gave a nod, and restarted the ticker. "Okay. Ready, go!"

Both devices then began to beep, as everyone crowded around Coran and Pidge to watch over the devices. Mara couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the current situation before her. Leaning over to Keith, Mara whispered into his ear, "Are they seriously trying to see the time difference between a second and a tick?"

Keith slowly nodded his head, and whispered back to her, "It's not like we have anything else better to do while we wait for Lance to come out of the cryo-replenisher..."

Mara couldn't help but give a shrug of her shoulders at Keith's response. "You may have a point there..." Mara said, as Hunk quickly let out a small cheer. "Yes! I think we're winning." Keith looked at Hunk with a confused look on his face as he watched the group continue to hover over the counting devices. "You're winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?"

Mara let out a groan and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh my god they were serious..."

"Dead serious!" Hunk chimed in, causing Mara to let out yet another groan of annoyance. But all of a sudden, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and her hearing intensified and became more focused. Somebody was walking right towards them… Mara slowly turned around, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"You guys having a clock party?" Lance called out, still sounded quite drowsy from his time spent in the cryo pod.

Everybody jumped in surprise at Lance's voice, and quickly turned to face him. Coran and Pidge put their tickers away, and Hunk pouted. "Aw, Lance, you just ruined it…." Hunk then realized that Lance was out of his cryo pod and walking around, as his quickly enveloped him into a hug. "Hey, Lance!"

Lance let out a grunt, surprised by the strength of Hunk's embrace. "What happened?" Allura let out a small giggle as she gave Lance a pat on the back. "We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?"

Lance raised an eyebrow at Allura's question, before a smirk slowly appeared on his face. "Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date, Princess?"

Everyone in the room let out a groan at Lance's poorly timed response, and Allura crossed her arms and turned herself away from facing Lance, with an annoyed look on her face.

"Wow, Lance" Mara said, sounding totally unimpressed.

"Yep, he's okay" Shiro said confidentially, as he smiled at the Blue Paladin.

"Classic" Keith muttered, as he crossed his arms and looked away.

"Yep, there he is." Pidge finished, as Hunk began to lead Lance back to his room.

.⋆✦⋆.

About half a varga later, Lance was seated in the dining hall, eating a plate of food goo as everyone brought him up to speed on what happened while he had been unconscious from the explosion. "We'd all be Sendak's prisoners right now, if not for Pidge!" Allura beamed, as she looked over to the youngest of the Paladins, who was sitting down next to Lance.

"Well, Lance wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn't gotten a new crystal…"

Lance took another bite of his food goo as he looked around the room at everyone in gratitude and amazement. "Wow. Thanks, everybody!" Lance then looked down at the space mice, who were also sitting on the table with him. He extended his hand out, and one of the mice hopped right onto his palm, nudging his fingers. Lance softly smiled at the mouse's gesture, before he turned to look at Keith. "Sounds like the mice did more than you, though."

Keith quickly shot an accusing glare at Lance. "I punched Sendak!"

Lance rolled his eyes at Keith's comment, as the mouse hopped right out of his palm. "Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off!"

Keith stood up from his seat at the table, and took a step closer to Lance. "But we had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!"

Lance let out a scoff at hearing this, and began to shake his head. "Nope. Don't remember, didn't happen."

Mara couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the antics between Keith and Lance in that moment. As she thought back to the night before, she did recall that Keith had been indeed, cradling Lance in his arms just after they had defeated Sendak. Was it possible that Lance did not have any memory of this event? Or was he just trying to ignore it, in order to avoid thanking Keith?

"So, what happened to Sendak?" Lance asked, bringing Mara out of her thoughts abruptly.

"He's currently frozen in a cryo-pod in an isolated part of the Castle. We're going to keep him here for a while." Allura replied, as Lance slowly nodded.

Lance titled his head to the side in thought, before he looked back up at the Princess to speak what was on his mind. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Allura was fast to nod her head. "He's too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him."

Mara even had to admit, the plan to keep Sendak as a prisoner was risky, but it was also a smart tactical move in giving them an upper hand in the war against Zarkon. Sendak was one of Zarkon's top commanders within the Galra army, so he would have to have some valuable information inside of his head. It was just going to take some time for them to figure out how they could extract that information though….

Lance pushed out himself and his chair from the table and stood up, stretching out his arms. "So, what's the plan now?" Lance asked, point blank, as the space mice soon descended onto his plate of food goo and began eating the rest of it.

Hunk was quick to respond to Lance's question. "We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people!"

Lance raised an eyebrow at Hunk's declaration. "Wow! You are really hung up on this lady!"

Hunk let out a sigh as he shook his head. "No, it's not like that. Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home... they've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about. It's time to man up!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Mara saw Pidge freeze up for a second, before he looked off to the side with a distant look on his face.

"Then let's get moving. Time to go defend the universe, team!" Shiro said, as everyone began to walk away from the dining table. But Pidge soon called out to them to stop for a moment. "Wait, I have something to say first. I need to come clean. And I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can't "man up." I'm a girl. I-I mean, I can "man up" because that's just a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to "man up." I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying is-"

Lance was in complete shock at the new revelation. "W-W-Wha...?! You're a girl?! How?!"

Mara wanted to hit Lance on the back of the head for his poor response, but managed to hold herself (and her annoyance) back. Everyone then began to sound off on how they had already known the truth about Pidge.

"I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone!" Allura said, with a pleased smile on her face.

"Yeah, I figured." Hunk said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, me too." Keith said, totally nonchalantly.

"Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?" Coran questioned, tilting his head to the side. Mara shook her head and let out a small laugh at Coran. "I figured it out a while ago..."

It was true, Mara had begun to suspect Pidge back when she had teased him about the girl in the photograph being his "girlfriend". Pidge's somewhat panicked and grossed out expression led her to believe that there was something else going on… Then there was the striking resemblance between the boy and girl in the photo…. When she thought Pidge wasn't looking, Mara looked closer at the details of the photo, when it all came back to her. Pidge had mentioned he had a brother, a brother who had gone on the Kerberos mission along with her father and Shiro. The boy in the photo was her brother! Which meant…. The girl in the photo had to be Pidge, or whatever her real name was!

Shiro took a step forward, towards Pidge. "Owning who you are is going to make you an even better paladin now."

Pidge nodded, and let out a sigh of relief. "It's good to get that off my chest. Now, let's launch this Castle-ship!"

Lance was still frozen in place, as all of the information began to settle inside of his head. He quickly found himself looking from left to right in a desperate attempt to find out what was going on now around him. "Wait, what? Pidge is a girl and the Castle is a ship? How long have I been out?"

Mara rolled her eyes and grabbed Lance's arm, tugging him along with her. "Not long enough, I'd say!"

.⋆✦⋆.

Shortly after their small break, Allura then instructed for all of the Paladins to suit up once again in their armor as she and Coran prepped the Castle ship for liftoff. When the Paladins entered the armory, they found that their armor was back in fine and pristine condition, showing no signs of wear from the previous battle with Sendak.

During the entire time she was suiting up however, she couldn't help but steal glances over at Shiro. Internally she was cursing herself for letting her hormones try and takeover her mind again, but at the same time, how could she not look after what she had seen earlier? And that had been Shiro with zero armor or clothing on!

Once they were all finished, they began to walk back to the main control room together. Mara found herself walking right next to Pidge, when a question that had been on her mind all morning found itself coming out of her mouth. "So… Do you want to be called Katie or Pidge?"

Pidge titled her head to the side in thought, as Mara waited for a response. "I think I'm gonna stick with Pidge." Mara nodded and smiled down at Pidge. "I'm glad, I really think Pidge suits you." Pidge looked up at Mara slowly before she smiled, and began to run ahead of the group. They all exchanged a look with each other before shrugging their shoulders, as they all ran to catch up with Pidge.

As the Paladins entered into the main control room, Allura was already in the center of the room with her hands on the consoles. Six chairs emerged from the floor, each lighting up with a color that matched each of the Paladins.

Mara couldn't help but notice that she was to be seated directly behind Shiro, as she let out a small groan. To her, it felt almost like the entire universe wanted her to be constantly looking over Shiro, no matter how hard she tried not to. They all took their appropriate seats as Coran nodded to Allura to begin the liftoff process.

Mara could feel the ship begin to vibrate beneath the floor, as the Castle configured itself to lift off from the surface. Soon the ship was being thrusted through the Arusian atmosphere at a high speed, breaking through the clouds. Mara couldn't help but clutch onto the sides of her chair a little bit tighter, she was still getting used to the feeling of flying, after all.

When the ship finally began to leave the atmosphere and reach the outer orbit of Arus, Allura gave the all clear for everyone to be able to get up and move around the room. Mara couldn't help but feel like it reminded her all too much of her experiences on a commercial airline.

The Paladins were soon all sitting in a circle, as they began to discuss a plan of action.

"Okay. So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and start blasting? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, like, 'Attention, Galras, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in'? No… Start with blasting them, right?" Hunk said, speaking fast and using lots of hand gestures as he spoke to them all.

Keith was wide-eyed for a moment as he tried to process all of the information Hunk said, before he placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder. "Hunk calm down. And, yes, blasting." Shiro let out a chuckle as he shook his head, turning to face Keith. "It's our first big rescue mission. He's excited." Pidge couldn't help but smirk, as she began to tease Hunk. "Yeah, excited to see his new girlfriend!" Lance snickered along with Pidge, and eventually had to close his mouth with his hand to cover up his laugh.

Hunk spun around and let out a gasp at Pidge's declaration. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a rock that I met, and I admire very much."

Mara gave Hunk a soft smile of understanding, before she titled her head to the side, now slightly confused at Hunk's statement. "Wait, she's a rock?"

Hunk rubbed the back of his head, trying to figure out a better way to describe Shay and her peoples' physical form. "Well she's part rock... You'll see for yourself." Mara slowly nodded, and flashed Hunk a smile. "Oh, I'm looking very forward to it!"

Suddenly, Alarms began blaring all over the room, as the Paladins raced back over to their seats. Mara looked towards Coran, who was typing furiously at the console in front of him. "What is it? Are we being attacked?" Shiro spoke up, as the rest of the group waited for Coran to give them a response. He shook his head, as he pulled up a hologram of one of the monitors. "No, it seems to be a distress beacon!"

Allura pulled up the hologram in front of her, and began to zoom in on the signal. "It's coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power."

Hunk was quick to shake his head. "Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we're done."

Mara couldn't help but step back in surprise at Hunk's declaration. Hunk was normally seen as being somewhat nervous and a bit afraid when it came to their missions or fights against the Galra. But this one mission seemed very important to him, so important that it made him actively push aside his own nerves and fears. But Hunk was also very kind and compassionate, and was always looking out for everyone. So to hear him just want to disregard somebody who might be in need of help, made Mara feel somewhat conflicted about her previous thoughts on the Yellow Paladin.

Allura stood firmly, as she turned to face Hunk with a serious look on her face. "The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need."

Hunk seemed like he wanted to speak out against what Allura had said, but decided to let out a small grunt and nod. Mara let out a sigh of relief, while next to her, Lance seemed to be even more excited about the current situation. "Wow! This is so cool. It's like we're space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?

Coran turned away from the console and shook his head. "Uh, no, but we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them."

A big smile appeared on Lance's face. "Perfect!" He then cupped his hands around his mouth and began to wail like a siren noise. But it only lasted for a few seconds, before Shiro placed his hand over Lance's mouth.

"Nope, not doing that."

Lance pouted in response as Shiro removed his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Mara could see Keith rolling his eyes at Lance's antics. But what Mara was more sure of that Keith had on his mind was how he thought a siren would actually sound like.

.⋆✦⋆.

As the Castle ship began to enter the atmosphere of the moon, Allura pressed a button on the main console, activating the speakers on the ship. "Attention, damaged craft, this is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you!" On the surface of the moon, three figures could be seen sitting around a small fire. Each figure appeared to be a different kind of aliens.

As the Castle finished its landing sequence, Allura took a step back from the controls and looked towards where Coran was stationed. "Coran, stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of that Galra crystal energy as you can. We'll see who hailed us."

Coran gave her a nod. "Yes, Princess."

The Paladins and Allura began to board a small pod that would then take them to the surface of the moon. As the Paladins each placed their helmets on their heads, Mara noticed that Allura was not putting on a helmet of her own. "Allura, aren't you going to wear a helmet?"

Allura turned to face Mara, and shook her head. "No, I don't need a helmet." Mara titled her head to the side, confused by how calm Allura was with her response. Allura simply winked at Mara, the pod door began to open. Mara held her breath as Allura took a step outside, and walked like nothing was wrong. Was the atmosphere of the moon breathable for Alteans? If so, what about humans?

Mara experimented by taking off her helmet, and found that she was able to breathe! The other Paladins looked at her with confusion, before they realized that Mara was following Allura's lead. The girls both smiled at the others before they walked forward to meet with the stranded aliens.

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: Back with only one chapter for this week, I'm so sorry everyone. I think at this point I'm just going to stick with one chapter per week, I've been tired from work and also having some writers block. But I'm still determined to keep writing the story, even if it takes me a bit longer to add scenes/dialogue incorporating Mara better into each episode.**

 **I was also able to look more into the space terminology for how time is measured, at least according to what we've been told by Allura and Coran on the show. Google was very helpful in giving me links to various blog posts and even entries from official Voltron companion books.**

 **As for the shower scene, I just wanted something that was funny to be added into the chapter. The moment reminds me a lot of the scene in 2009's The Proposal, when Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds accidentally knock into each other completely naked… And then freak out over it and pretty much run out of the room. But since we're still in the PG part of this story, I gave them towels to cover up their nudity.**

 **Next chapter we will officially meet our three favorite space fighters/bounty hunters! And can I just say I love that Norman Reedus was the voice of Rolo in this episode? Such a shame they couldn't bring him back when Rolo made a couple more appearances on the show though….**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my original characters. I hope you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from all of you as the story progresses.**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Lance was the next one out of the group to take off his helmet, before he made a dramatic gasp for air. For a split second, Hunk actually thought Lance was choking, until Pidge slapped Lance on the side of the head. Lance breathed normal just like Allura and Mara, before he turned to Hunk with a sheepish look on his face for being caught. "Not cool, Lance" Hunk muttered, as the group stopped a few feet in front of the stranded aliens.

The male, purple skinned alien took a step forward and extended his hand out to the group. "You don't know how glad we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks don't want to get tangled up with anyone who's on the run from the Galra."

Keith stopped a few feet away from the alien, with a confused look on his face. "So, you guys are fighting the Galra?"

The alien gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "Well, I don't think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can. I'm Rolo." He then gestured to the two other aliens behind him. One was female and was yellow skinned, and the other was a chrome covered robot. "This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit, Beezer."

Nyma and Beezer both said hello, quickly attracting the attention of Lance and Pidge.

Lance was quickly at Nyma's side, already trying to lay down his charm. "Hi there! The name's Lance." Pidge was quickly at Beezer's side, looking over every detail of the robot. "Cool robot!" Pidge exclaimed, as she began to poke and prod around. Mara and Keith but let out a groan at the same time, before Mara leaned over to whisper something into his ear. "Safe to say he's back to his original flirty self..." Keith couldn't help but smirk at Mara's joke, as they looked over to see Lance trying his best to impress Nyma.

Shiro turned to face Rolo, as he looked over their ship out of the corner of his eye. "Was your ship damaged in a fight?"

Rolo let out a sigh, as he looked over and placed a hand on his ship. "Yeah, we've really been through it with the Galra. Parts are hard to come by. Luckily, we were able to limp to this moon about a week ago. If you didn't pick up our distress signal, I don't-"

Allura was quick to grab Rolo's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and flashing her best smile. "We're happy to help. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and from now on, you won't be alone fighting the Galra. You'll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side."

Rolo looked back and forth between all of the Paladins in front of him, before he turned around to see how Nyma and Beezer were interacting the other Paladins. Lance was chuckling to himself as he held onto Nyma's hand, trying to flirt with her. Meanwhile Pidge was inspecting every inch of Beezer, with a big smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye. Rolo raised an eyebrow as he turned to look back at the Paladins in front of him. "Okay?"

Shiro behind Rolo to see how Lance and Pidge were acting, and frowned to himself before he let out a sigh. "I don't think they've heard of us…"

"It has been ten thousand years…" Keith muttered out loud. Mara tilted her head to the side in thought. How exactly do you explain what Voltron is to somebody who has never heard of Voltron before? Just before she was about to open her mouth and try to explain, Shiro took a step forward and began gesturing with his arms.

"Uh Voltron? Five robot lions that combine into this big robot... guy?"

Rolo slowly nodded his head, a mental image of Voltron appearing in his mind… Or at least what he assumed was what Voltron looked like based on Shiro's description.

"Sounds impressive. I'd love to see it. Or-or him. Them."

Hunk had been patiently waiting near the ship, tapping his foot against the ground as he watched the others converse with the stranded aliens. He couldn't stop thinking about Shay, and what he people must be going through at the moment while they were stuck here on a detour. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore, as he walked right in front of Rolo. "Why don't we get to work on your ship? I'm sure we all have places to be."

Rolo seemed taken aback by Hunk for a moment, before he gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Sure. Pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot. I don't know what kind of extra parts you carry in this rig of yours…."

Rolo looked up at the massive Castle ship behind the Paladins, with the same sparkle in his eye that Pidge had a few moments ago when she was looking over Beezer.

"I've never seen anything quite like your ship…"

Allura followed Rolo's gaze towards the Castle ship and smiled, before she looked over at Rolo's ship. "I'm sure we can get you back up and running. Give Hunk a list of what you need. Coran can show you where to find it."

Rolo nodded at the pair, and signaled for Nyma and Beezer to follow him. "We'll go with you. Don't want you to have to carry all that yourself. Come on, guys." But Hunk quickly stepped in front of Rolo, blocking his path. "Uh, I don't think so. You can just wait out here."

Allura let out a small gasp of surprise before she was right at Hunk's side, with a disapproving look on her face. "Hunk don't be rude." Mara was also taken by surprise at Hunk's shift in demeanor, and found herself nodding her head with what Allura said. Lance was quick to pipe up behind the Princess with his own thoughts on the situation. "Yeah, mind your manners. There are ladies present." Lance then turned back to face Nyma, and clicked his tongue at her. All at once Shiro, Mara, and Keith sighed at Lance's flirtatious behavior. Seriously? Now was not really the time to be trying to flirt with the random alien girl you just met. Not when they had bigger issues to deal with on their hands.

But Hunk remained in his spot, unmoving from anything that was just said. "Oh, I'm sorry, oh but does anyone remember the last time we let our defenses down? Someone kind of set off a bomb. Remember, Lance? You were almost killed.

Lance's smile dropped from his face, as he looked off to the side. "Oh, yeah…." Mara then couldn't help but be brought back to her own memories of what took place when she found Lance and Coran at the site of the bomb explosion, and how badly injured Lance had looked… They had almost thought he wasn't going to make it…

Shiro then appeared by Hunk's side, and gave him a firm nod of approval. "Hunk's right. Sorry, but we have to be cautious." Shiro's words were quick to snap Mara out of her memories, as she re-focused her attention onto Rolo.

"Hey, I don't take it personal. That's how it is out here. You've got to look out for your own. You're doing a good job, big man." Rolo then gave Hunk a pat on the back, to which Hunk did not seem to keen on receiving. Beezer rolled up to Rolo's side and began to print out a list of parts they would need to fix their ship. When it was finished, Beezer let out a few beeps of exclamation, before he rolled away back to Nyma's side. Hunk looked down at the list as he began to read over its contents. He then looked up to see Rolo and the group walking towards a small fire they had going near their ship. Hunk let out a sigh before he began to walk back towards the Castle ship. "Yeah. Thanks."

.⋆✦⋆.

As Hunk began to set to work on the ship, the rest of the Paladins sat around the fire along with Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer. There was nothing but silence in the air between the group, except for the sounds of the fire crackling in front of them as it continued to burn. Out of the corner of her eye, Mara looked around the fire. It seemed like nobody was sure who should speak first, or if they should speak at all. Once her eyes landed on Rolo however, he turned and directly made eye contact with her. Mara blinked a few times, but Rolo continued to stare at her, tilting his head to the side as if he was thinking about something. Mara quickly looked away, as her heartbeat began to increase, and she could feel a small blush starting to appear on her face. There was more silence between them all for a moment before Mara cleared her throat to finally speak. "So, what can you tell us about yourselves?"

Rolo looked to Mara before gazing into the flames of the fire, with a sad look on his face. "My planet was destroyed by the Galra and I was taken captive. I managed to escape, but not before I lost something." Rolo lifted up the hem of his pants to reveal that his entire leg was a metal prosthetic. Mara's eyes widened a bit, just as she could feel Shiro tense up a bit next to her. His own prosthetic arm then whirled to life, and began to glow. Shiro held out his arm towards Rolo, with an understanding look on his face. "I know exactly how that feels."

Rolo looked at Shiro's arm for a moment and gave him a solemn nod. He then turned to face Mara, managing to make eye contact with her again. "Tell me, what's your planet like?"

Mara's face lit up as she began to explain various aspects about the Earth to Rolo. She used a lot of hand gestures, and would even turn to Keith and Shiro to back her up on some of her claims that even had Rolo second-guessing her. Eventually, Mara asked Rolo more about his own home planet, and in a few minutes the pair were sitting close together, exchanging various stories and information about their lives.

Keith sat across from the pair, slightly narrowing his eyes when he noticed how Rolo would move closer to Mara or touch her hand. And it seemed like Keith wasn't the only one who was noticing this, as Keith could feel Shiro tense up every few minutes. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith could see that Shiro was also staring at Mara and Rolo interacting, and he was not liking it one bit. Keith couldn't help but let out a little snort to himself at the sight of Shiro being jealous. And the best part was, Shiro probably didn't even consider it jealousy! Shiro would probably just say he was being 'concerned' for Mara, but Keith knew better. His two friends definitely had something between them, and he had to do was wait and see what would happen from it all. Rolo asked Mara a question that had her nearly stuttering back in response, before she let out a shaky laugh. Keith raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what it was that Rolo had asked her. And… Wait, was that a blush on Mara's face? Keith narrowed his eyes as he continued to watch the pair, his gaze and actions nearly mimicking Shiro's now.

.⋆✦⋆.

Hunk eventually came wandering out of the Castle ship, with a crate full of supplies to help fix Rolo's ship. As he set the crate down, he let out a small grunt. "Well, I hope there are some parts in here that'll fit. You know, to get your ship moving?"

Mara frowned slightly before she turned to face Rolo, their story exchange coming to an end. Rolo stood up from his seat, and gave Hunk a pat on the back as he walked over to retrieve the crate of ship parts. "Great! Thanks for all of this!"

Before he could take the parts over to his ship, Allura walked up to him and cleared her throat, with a determined expression on her face. "So, what can you tell us about Zarkon's forces? Where are they concentrated?"

Rolo titled his head in thought for a moment before he replied to Allura. "Well, his command ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He mostly calls the shots from there and has his minions do the work, depending on who's closest. This is the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendak."

Mara's eyes widened at the information, as she looked out of the corner of her eye to Shiro. Mara still hadn't forgotten any of the time they had spent when they had been held captive inside the Castle ship by Sendak and his goons. Or before that, when Shiro had an intense fight with Sendak, that ended with the pair about to deliver a final blow to the other.

"Oh, we've met." Keith sarcastically replied, as Mara shook her head out of her thoughts, and let out a sigh of relief. "Well, at least he shouldn't be a problem around here anymore…."Rolo turned to face Mara with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?

Mara faintly smiled at Rolo before she replied. "We recently defeated Sendak, and are now holding him prisoner on our ship."

Rolo's eyes widened, as he then looked to Keith for confirmation. Keith simply nodded and Rolo let out a whistle. "That's very impressive…."

Shiro quickly cleared his throat, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Anyway, how far are we from the center?" Shiro asked. Rolo shook his head in response. "We're way out on the fringes."

All of a sudden, Hunk stepped into the circle to address the group. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are kind of keeping Rolo from working. It's just that we're in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life, and I swore I would return to do the same for her and her people…" Hunk then turned to look at Rolo straight in the eye. "You understand."

Rolo blinked for a moment, before he gave a nod to Hunk. "Sure, I get it. Sorry to keep you waiting." Rolo then whistled for Beezer to come over, as they began to look over the crate of ship parts. Meanwhile, Shiro had taken Hunk off to the side of the ship to have a private conversation. "Hunk, we're going to get going soon, but I think Rolo might have some information that could be helpful to us."

Hunk peered over Shiro's shoulder to see Rolo and Beezer working, with Pidge still fussing over the robot on the side, and Mara asking more questions to Rolo about his travels. Hunk looked back at Shiro and frowned. "Not for nothing but I don't trust this guy as far as I can throw him. We ought to leave him with parts and just say, Adios, amigo!" Just as Shiro was about to reply, Rolo called out for Hunk's attention.

"Hey, bud! Sorry, but do you think you could hunt down a length of thermal pipe about yay long?"

Hunk let out a groan as he began to walk back towards the Castle ship. "Sure, on the way." Shiro whispered a quick thank you to Hunk, before he walked back over to talk with Rolo. "So, are there more freedom fighters? Any kind of organized resistance to the Galra?"

Rolo gave a shrug of his shoulders is response. "Only folks who haven't been colonized yet, or the lucky few, like us, who managed to escape somehow.

Keith placed a hand on Rolo's shoulder. "Well, we're going to change all that."

A faint smile appeared on Rolo's face. "That's good to hear and all, but I've got to warn you, it's pretty bad out there. You don't know what you're up against." Rolo then turned around and put his attention back into looking at the ship parts in the crate, as he began to work on fixing up his ship. Mara was pulling Pidge away by the arm so that Beezer could help Rolo, which she was not happy about. Mara began to look around for Lance, knowing that he would need to give Nyma a break, so she could also help fix the ship. But when she didn't spot him or Nyma, Mara sent a confused glance over to Pidge. "Hey, where did Lance go?"

Pidge muttered something about Lance trying to impress Nyma, before one of the Castle ship hangars opened, and the blue Lion was now flying over them before it went out of sight. Keith looked up at the sky, and let out a groan. Why did Lance have to be such a show off, always trying to impress people?

After a few minutes of tinkering, Rolo announced that they would be doing a quick test flight to make sure everything was working correctly. Rolo and Beezer quickly went inside of the ship and fired it up, before they took off into the skies. The remaining paladins began to wait for them to return, along with hopefully Lance and Nyma.

"How many ticks have they been gone?" Pidge asked, as she began to look around for any sign of the ship or the blue Lion. Mara let out a huff, before she looked down at the holo clock on her wrist. "I think we're past ticks here..."

"I don't know. I hope they didn't break down again…" Allura spoke up, as a worried look came over her features. Hunk took off the goggles on his face, revealing his eyes were now narrowed. "Something ain't right here…." All of the paladins turned to face Hunk, before there was suddenly a batch of static coming over their communicators inside of their helmets.

"Guys? Hello? Little help?" Lance's voice called out, with a hint of panic to its tone. Mara quickly scrambled to put her helmet back on, so she could hear better what Lance was saying. Shiro went right into leader mode and answered first. "Lance? Lance! Are you all right? What's going on?" Lance let out an audible sigh over the channel. "Well, I'm kind of chained to a tree…And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion."

Hunk slammed his goggles on the ground. "I knew it!" he yelled, as everyone turned around to face him. Hunk slowly nodded his head, as he then quickly picked up his goggles from the ground and began to run back towards the castle ship. The group quickly followed, while Shiro continued to talk to Lance. "Where are they now?"

Lance was quiet for a moment before he replied back in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Uh, space?" Mara let out a groan in response, just as the group entered the hangar to get to their lions. "Well no shit, Sherlock." Mara muttered under her breath, getting a small chuckle from Pidge and Keith over the communicator. Meanwhile, Hunk was on a constant rant about the situation at hand. "I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning! I mean oh at first it was just like a feeling in my gut, you know, but when I was replacing that pipe, the pipe was cracked, but none of the hardware around it was damaged…"

"Okay, we get it!" Keith tried to yell over Hunk's words.

But Hunk continued to get louder as he spoke, as if Keith didn't try to interrupt him. "I mean if the thermal pipe is cracked, then, obviously, hello, the entire assembly should be totally roasted."

"Okay! We get it!" Pidge now tried to yell over Hunk's words. But once again it was of no use, as Hunk just continued rambling on. "We should've had to replace the entire undercarriage of that reactor. So, right then, I was, like, positive. Foul play.

"Okay, we get it!" Everyone yelled, finally making Hunk stop his ranting. "Oops, sorry guys." Hunk quietly replied, as the Lions then rose off the ground and flew right out of the hangar, now in pursuit of Rolo's ship.

.⋆✦⋆.

"So Shiro, what's the plan?" Mara asked, as the group continued to fly through open space to find Rolo's ship. "We have to intercept Rolo's ship, and recover the Blue Lion." Shiro replied, as Mara and the other paladins gave a firm nod in response. As they continued to travel through space, eventually Rolo's ship appeared on their radars. "Ok, how are we gonna do that?" Pidge asked, with a bit hesitation in her voice. Pidge had brought up a good point, how were they going to follow through on their plan? It wasn't like Rolo was just going to pull over on the nearest planet and apologize before giving them back the lion. Not when he and his crew were already trying to make a break for it. And they couldn't just blow up Rolo's ship, that would be entirely out of the question. But instead of Shiro replying, it was Keith's voice that came over the communication channel. "We're going to have to slow them down, and fast. They're quickly approaching a massive asteroid field."

The Lions were just about to catch up with Rolo's ship, but it was too late. Rolo's ship was now flying through the cluttered asteroid field, making it increasingly harder for the paladins to pursue him in such close quarters.

"We'll never get through this asteroid field!" Pidge complained out loud, echoing everyone's thoughts in that moment. Hunk let out a huff, before he began to fly his Lion forward in a charge against one of the massive asteroids. "Maybe I can just bust through!" As soon as the yellow Lion made contact, a chain reaction began within the asteroid field. It was now all moving around in an unpredictable pattern, with collisions happening left and right. "Nope. That was wrong. That was a bad idea!"

Shiro thought to himself for a moment, considering all of the group's options. The Black and Yellow lions were too large to traverse inside of the asteroid field, and Pidge and Mara still had little piloting experience compared to the others… Shiro finally came to a decision, as his voice came over the communication channel once again. "Keith, you're the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush him out."

Keith immediately smiled, as he began to pilot his lion ahead of the others. "You got it. See you on the other side." Mara slowed down her lion to a complete stop as she watched Keith and the red Lion begin to enter the asteroid field. "Good luck!"

Now all they could do was wait for Keith to hopefully flush out Rolo's ship, so they could then get the Blue Lion back. As they were waiting, Pidge and Hunk were busy talking with Lance as he was still handcuffed to a tree back on the moon, re-assuring him that they would be getting the Blue Lion back as soon as they could. Lance did let out a few words of protest when it was revealed that Keith was now the one who was , but Pidge and Hunk both told him it was the only way.

Which actually got Mara thinking to herself. Why was Keith the only one who could fly through the asteroid field? Shiro was just as good of a pilot as Keith, so why couldn't he have gone in? Mara bit her lip as she opened up the communications channel directly to the Black Lion, so she could speak to Shiro. "What made you say that Keith was the only one who could fly through that asteroid field?"

Shiro let out a small chuckle before he responded. "Besides the fact that he's the best pilot I've helped train? It all goes back to when I first met Keith…"

Mara's ears instantly perked up, as she leaned forward closer to the display console. "Could you… Please tell me? Keith never did tell me how you both met."

Shiro gave her a small nod, as he cleared his throat. "I was recruiting at a local school near the Garrison, we had a flight simulator set up for the kids to test out…"

"Oh yeah, I remember those days!" Pidge excitedly yelled over the communicator, interrupting Shiro for a moment. "Yeah me too, those simulators were fun!" Hunk chimed in, before the pair realized their mistake. "Oops, sorry Shiro!" Hunk and Pidge quickly whispered over the communicator, before Shiro continued to speak.

"A couple of them made it past three levels, until Keith took his turn at the controls. He beat the entire simulation, surprising not only me but everyone else in his class." Mara slowly nodded to herself, as she began to imagine in her mind what that situation must have looked like. A pre-teen Keith blowing everyone out of the water with his skills and impressing Shiro, who was one of the greatest pilots and graduates of the Garrison at his age… Shiro waited for a moment, waiting it out to see if Hunk or Pidge would chime in again. But after a few more seconds of silence, he continued his story. "I remember asking his teacher why Keith wasn't on the list of recommended students for recruitment, since he was clearly the best according to the simulation results…."

Just as Shiro was about to finish his trip down memory lane, Rolo's ship came smoking out of the asteroid field, struggling to fly correctly. The lions all began to circle the ship, emitting a menacing growl at the thieves before them. Keith and his Lion were quick to follow up behind Rolo's ship, as they began to escort it back to the moon. "Yeah! Hey, Lance, I got your lion back."

Lance let out a sigh of relief at Keith's message. "Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come here and unchain me?"

A mischievous grin appeared on Keith's face, as he began to make static-like noises inside of his communicator. "Uh what's that? I, uh... You're cutting out. I can't... I can't hear you…" Mara couldn't help but let out a giggle, which she quickly tried to cover up with her hands to prevent her from having a full out laugh attack at what Keith was doing to Lance.

Lance let out a gasp over the communicator, as he began to sound panicked in his voice. "Oh, come on! I thought we bonded. Keith? Buddy? My man?" At this point, everyone was laughing at Keith's antics, even Shiro! It was Mara however, who ended up flying down to the tree where Lance was handcuffed, and set him free. Lance thanked Mara, just as she gave him a pat on the back. "Don't be so eager next time to impress a girl, ok?" she whispered, as she gave Lance a quick wink and walked back over to her Lion. Lance quickly followed behind her, as the pair then flew away to join the others.

.⋆✦⋆.

Once they got the blue Lion out of the docking area of Rolo's ship, they gathered Rolo and his crew together, back around the now dying fire where they had found them originally when they landed on the moon.

They were all standing around Rolo's group in a closed circle, with very harsh looks on their faces. Keith was the one who spoke up, letting the group know about their fate. "Since your ship really doesn't work now, you'll have to wait here for a rescue." Beezer let out a series of sad beeps, as Nyma crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Rolo simply nodded, before he turned to look straight at Keith. "Thanks for sparing our lives."

Hunk turned his back on Rolo and his group, before he began to lead the others back towards the Castle ship. "Now that these guys are dealt with, let's get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family." Everyone was now following right behind Hunk, with Mara and Lance slowly lingering behind as they looked over at Rolo and Nyma.

"Hey…." Rolo softly yelled, catching the paladin's attention as they stopped in their tracks. "You may not believe this, but I hope you do stop Zarkon. It's a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today." From the look on Rolo's face, Mara knew that he was being true and sincere about his words to them. It made her think back to an old Earth saying about how war 'changes people' and makes them do things that they would have never considered doing from before. Mara thought that this saying fit Rolo and his group right now, and that they were probably very different people before any of this happened to them. Mara then ended up walking back over and placing a hand on Rolo's shoulder. "I promise you, we're going to change that. You've got a second chance now, right for the right thing. Be true rebels against Zarkon and his evil."

Rolo and Nyma stared back at Mara with awed expressions on their faces, before they both silently nodded. Mara then waved goodbye to the group, before she re-joined the rest of the paladins. Allura was practically beaming at Mara with approval for what she had said to the stranded aliens. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

.⋆✦⋆.

 **A/N: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I know it's been almost a month since I last updated this fic, but I had some things going on that was delaying me from finishing this chapter. I hope to not have such long or sporadic updates anymore, and I will try to meet my one chapter a week goal.**

 **But now we can at least move on to the next two-parter episode, which will be rescuing Shay (and the entire Balmera). I will probably have these two episodes made into two chapters, since I know it is mainly action heavy and has the paladins in their lions for most of the time, but then again, we'll see. I'm more excited for when we reach the Crystal Venom episode, it will involve a lot more of Allura and Mara interacting, with some angsty Shiro and Mara on the side. And possibly, a revelation about Suroa? You'll just have to wait and see!**

 **But you know what we did get to see in this chapter? Jealous Shiro! Protective Keith! Blushing Mara! And don't you worry, Keith will be asking Mara what exactly it was that Rolo said to make her blush from earlier. Keith doesn't have any romantic interest in Mara, he's more of the protective friend type of guy, and the fact that he already senses something between Mara and Shiro too. I'm debating on if I should have Shiro (or Mara) tell Keith about the bathroom incident, or if Keith would really care/have any opinion about it. Let me know what you all think!**

 **Also, as of writing this, Voltron just had its last panel at NYCC and we now have the release date for the final season of the show, December 14** **th** **. The trailer looked insane and I honestly have no clue what is going to happen. I have most of Mara's story planned out up to season seven (along with a few other OCs we will meet in the future) so it will be interesting to see how the canon story ends and how I can incorporate that into this fanfic.**

 **I do not own Voltron Legendary Defender, but I do own my original characters. I hope that you will give them time and get to know them and love them as I have over the course of their creation/development.**

 **So please, feel free to favorite, follow, and leave a review! I look forward to getting constructive feedback from you all as the story progresses.**


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